Somewhere Else

Chapter 19: Catching Up

The door was pushed open with great enthusiasm, excited to see where it was he lived. The building hardly looked attractive from the outside, but he knew he had good taste. Besides, he was told that he owned the entire building. Even though it appeared to be a unit of apartments from the exterior. Knocking out a few walls and designing the interior was hardly a challenge.

That was not quite what had been done with the place though. He walked into the smallest apartment in the world. The only thing he saw at first was the glow of his computer screen and a bed. Maybe he’d started renovations. The only walls he saw were those that hid his bathroom from sight. Everything in the apartment was bare as well. Surely, this was only a reflection of being in the void though. He couldn’t imagine his tastes had changed that much.

Turning, he narrowed his eyes and confronted Oskar. “What did you do with my stuff?”

The very last thing he remembered was a very ornate rug filling the entire floor. Crimson, orchid and ebon. Bold and elegant. And very much his. This place offered nothing. No expensive furniture. No rug to speak of, and no art on the walls.

“It’s all been sold.”

“What?”

“You told me you felt too materialistic and to sell everything and so I did – including the house. That’s why you live here now. Of course, you bought the whole building which somewhat contradicts being mater-“

“You sold it? You sold my stuff and my house? And you moved me here?”

“Well, technically you did.”

“What? I came back for like, a day? And in that day sold my life? What were you doing? Am I still paying you? Oh man Oskar, you’re fired.”

He didn’t move or speak for a moment. Then he just went on like nothing ever happened. “You found the sixth, I see. I might sound a little selfish here, but I’m glad you’re here again.”

“You’re still fired. Where do you live?”

“Up the stairs and to the right.”

“You live with me?”

“In one of your apartments, yes.”

“You’re such a fucking joker. Go home. I’ll be over soon so we can go over this stuff.”

Oskar gave a shake of his head and turned around so he could let himself out. Since he wasn’t sure he had any concept of time, he’d be sure to only give him an hour and then check back. Delighted that he’d returned, he was also faced with having to tell him about everything he might have missed while he was away. Brecker would not be pleased.

From what he understood, he took two hours to gather his things. It hardly felt like that long to him. The key that had been handed to him actually unlocked a drawer in his two drawer filing cabinet. Four holes were withdrawn. Maybe he’d spent the rest of the time finding the fifth. In the end, he went upstairs with only four under his arm.

Each of the files were spread out on Oskar’s kitchen table and he turned a chair around so he could sit comfortably. Oskar poured two glasses of water and joined him. Since he’d never been allowed to see any of this before, he was entirely intrigued. He liked to think he’d done a good job of keeping things in order over the past five years or so, and to date the only repayment he’d ever wanted was to know what it’d all been for.

“The first that I found was Winter Rose.”

The manuals envelope was pushed towards Oskar. Without opening it, he knew every note he’d ever put into it from any time he’d been back. His memory might be selective, but at least he was beginning to remember.

“I didn’t even know until the night she died. That was how I learned about everything. Winter didn’t actually choose to appear as a child. She was absolutely genius in what she did though.”

“You can choose how you appear?”

“Yes Sir. I look the same everywhere. I like to keep things simple you see.”

“Why did she end up as a child then?”

“Winter found that she had the same mother in every life. Using that information, she followed her by means of another person and tried to play matchmaker. The initial pair didn’t work, so she had to settle. At any rate, she was created again. This made her more powerful, inevitably, because she didn’t have to split away from any other energy source.”

“Wouldn’t splitting make you weaker in the end?” The more you have of you the less energy all around?”

“It would seem so, but no. Each half is substantially weaker at that start but they gain their own strength over time. Winter was strong and wise beyond her years for good reason.”

Oskar leaned back in his chair and stared for just a moment. The most of this was within his grasp but then right when he thought he had it all figured out, it flew over his head. Taking the information he already had, the bits and pieces that Brecker would randomly share with him on his returns, and now what he was telling him now, he started over and tried to piece it together for himself. A wave of the hand told him to continue, to go on with what he had to say.

“She chose to appear as a young girl so that she could use the innocence of her appearance but the wise words of her mind to fool those who needed it and to further convince those who needed that extra push.”

“Who would need fooled?”

“Reese. He’s the one that we seem to be moving away from.”

That said, he withdrew the folder that held all of his notes on that man. As the cover was pulled back to reveal the papers, Brecker realized it was substantially smaller than the other files he had on his others. There wasn’t very much known about this one sadly, but he figured that was just because he’d been too focused on finding them all. The rest were allies, so far as he knew, and so they were more willing to help than anyone. They didn’t mind telling him who they were and how they played a part in this.

“I found Reese quite by accident and then after that I could never find him again. Winter reassured me that it was through no fault of my own. He just changes form whenever he can, remains as disguised as possible.”

Oskar took the folder and flipped through the information himself. Sometimes there were photos to accompany what they looked like. This one had only one and he’d never seen anyone like that before. He doubted Brecker even had this guy in his life so he wasn’t sure how it was all going to pull together in the end. He wouldn’t say such thing to him now when he seemed so excited though.

“Freak was next. He was very easy to find as well because he stands out wherever he goes. The most colorful man that I’ve ever seen, truthfully, but not even that was what gave him away. He has such energy to him that it’s hard to miss. He was the one who helped me rope Malachai in. Malachai had no idea what he was until Freak forced it upon him to accept what he could do. Now the two of them are rather close from what I hear and I know where to find the both of them in this city.”

Now there was only the matter of finding that sixth. He knew that he’d met him before, knew that he could find him in this life, but he wasn’t quite sure how he was going to locate him. Right now he had no file and no picture to go off of. He wouldn’t have returned without being positive he could find him though, so he held tight to that hope.

“That’s all I have right now.” Gathering up the folders, he put them back together in the same order they’d been when he pulled them out, trying to keep everything organized. “I think I’m going to go see Lane. It’s been a while and I could really use some grounding right now.”

Oskar stood from his chair rather quickly, holding the back of it like he was about to push it into the table. “Uh, yeah. That’s another thing Brecker.”

Needless to say, he didn’t like the tone of his voice. Holding everything still, his eyes trained on the other man, he waited for some explanation for his behavior and to hear what he might have to say about Lane. He hoped nothing had happened to him. After that car accident, he wasn’t sure he could handle anything else like that happening. Lane was too strong, in his mind, to be taken out like that.

“Brecker, listen. I’m really sorry things worked out the way they did, I am. I tried to keep things going between you and Lane but I really think that my meddling did less good than I wanted it to.”

“What are you saying, exactly?”

“You and Lane broke up about a year ago.”

That was news worse than finding out where he lived. Lane had always been there at his side. One of the things he liked about Lane was that he didn’t so much believe in everything that was going on. He was his semblance of reality. Whenever he needed a break, needed to feel as though he was normal again, he would return to spend some time with Lane. The man was blunt, harshly so, and he always made his opinion of things well known, and he could really use that injection of truth every now and again.

However, moving away from his troubled mind and his confused heart, as though they were both finally catching up from the date of that happening to where he was now, he knew, absolutely knew, he would not have remained celibate for as long as he’d been without a steady boyfriend. Tapping the edges of the folder against the table, he struggled to ask a very personal question about himself to Oskar.

“Who am I sleeping with?”

Again he seemed to falter, picking up a salt shaker from the table and passing it from hand to hand. Worrying his lower lip, he tried to think of a nice way to put his reply. “The city?” Mission: failed.

“You have got to be shitting me.”

“No. After you and Lane broke up, you pretty much went on a sleep-a-thon.”

“Anyone specific that you know of?”

“Your business was everyone’s business. Watch out for Todd.”

“Ugh. I slept with Todd?”

“No. You slept with Elijah.”

That was bad news right there. Rubbing his forehead with his free hand, he hoped he’d been through the most of that already. He wasn’t sure he could handle a jealous Todd right now. There was too much to do. Besides, he doubted that guy would forget that they were supposed to be together if he’d ever leave Lane. Now that it’d been done, he honestly couldn’t see him with Todd. He and Elijah were good for each other.

“And there’s this guy named Vilhelm.”

“I can’t even say that name.”

“That’s not the worst of it. You met him in London on a business meeting, out at one of your clubs. He’s a model for Blue. He was also seventeen when you—“

“No. No, I don’t like guys that much younger than me.”

“At least you waited for his eighteenth birthday?”

“Happy fucking Birthday.” He looked absolutely disgusted with himself. Then he looked angry. Pointing at Oskar, he questioned him. “Have I fired you already?”

“Yes. Luckily you haven’t done much after that. There’s this kid named Lucky you’ve been hanging out with.”

“Lucky?”

“Yeah. He’s only eighteen too but you’ve got him going into your clubs. He knows Elijah and Todd.”

“Eighteen? Why do I know a kid named Lucky?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even know where you found this one. He’s a real looker too, just like you like. Blood red Mohawk and the crazy fuck’s got a star tattooed around his eye.”

“Wait a minute.” For once there was a smile that came through the rest of his mixed emotions. Hopefully this was going to be the breakthrough and that would connect all of the work he’d done in those different realms. “Lucky is Malachai. Lucky is someone that I need. I take him clubbing you say? I’ll go get ready. Maybe I’ll luck out and find him tonight.”