For the Greater Good

Chapter 1

“It is the duty of all those who are able to work for the greater good of the world”

The sound of the rushing tide intermingled with the rustling of the leaves in the trees, making a single sound that enveloped the ears of whoever might be lucky enough to be standing between the two. A girl sat on the beach, oblivious to the harmonious sound around her, hunched over and looking determinedly at a small crab that had just made its way out of the sand. With a motion of her hand and a tilt of her head, as though conducting music, she made the little crab move. First slowly, than quickly, and finally making it move wildly across the sand, zigging and zagging. A smile cracked across her at her success and she relinquished control of the animal, letting it go back to do whatever it is crabs do.
“Taika!” a voice called from behind her.
“Coming dad!” she shouted in return springing to her feet and dusting off her sandy bottom. She ran back up the beach toward the cottage where she had been staying, tripping a bit on the bumpy sand beneath her.
“We’re just about ready to go now,” said her father as he helped to lift a suitcase into the back of a neighbor’s old car with great effort. He was a mousy sort of fellow with a kind voice, and not a person you would particularly want to help carry your bags. “Would you like to check once more just to be sure you haven’t forgotten anything?”
“I guess I might as well,” she said as slipped her shoes back on. “I don’t gather I’ve left anything though,”
“Yes, well it can never hurt to check,” he replied from behind a tall stack of books.
“Right,” once she had finished shaking all the sand out of her shoes and returned them to her feet she ran off full pace to check all the places where she may have left something. It was summertime and she was staying at a cottage on the beach with her parents. Though it wasn’t far from Cape of plains, the City where she lived it felt very remote. Miles of farmland stretched across the flat countryside interspersed with farmhouses every couple thousand acres along unpaved roads. Taika was beginning to tire of this simple existence she had been living for the past few weeks.
At first she was excited to being coming here for vacation, but over time she had run out of rocks to collect, flowers to pick, and birds to watch. The aquamarine tinted skies and fast moving clouds, the winds gliding across the wheat in the fields and whipping up dust devils and the hawks who sit on the power-poles waiting for vermin to emerge from the crops below, had come to bore her. At her age anything becomes mundane if you give it enough time.
But perhaps she was not so much bored at all this, as anxious to leave. Today she would be going to stay with her teacher, the great wizard Master Thelma Pendleton. Taika had been apprenticing under her for her whole life, but hadn’t seen her for a few months now. She would be living with her while her parents went away for work, and was excited to learn more from the woman. Compared to a great wizard, it was hard to the beach to hold interest.
Her thoughts elsewhere, Taika ran from tree stump, to grassy knoll, big mossy rock, and to anywhere else she had been for more than a few minutes. Glancing carelessly about, for all of her things were already accounted for. In the back of her mind she took this time to take in the scenery one last time while brimming with thoughts of the future.
Everything having checked out she returned to the cottage where her mother stood under the shade of a big ash tree examining a cicada that was sitting on it. “Ah there you are,” she said calmly upon noticing her daughter. “Are you quite ready to go?”
“Pretty much…” the girl felt a sudden pang inside herself. Her life was going to change a lot soon. Once the summer was over she would be moving to a new city, to a new school in the same city as her teacher.
“Why don’t you go get Molly and put her in the car?” she said with a note of concern.
“I suppose I should,” she replied halfheartedly.
Her father walked over to her and put his arm around her, “are you nervous about going? Here you were getting all excited about going, but now you’re worried you’ll get homesick.” She smiled wryly and looked away, “By the end of summer you’ll be sad about leaving Master Pendleton, just you wait and see. Like at the end of every school year you get excited about summer vacation and then go and miss your friends. So don’t worry, the time will fly by, and before you know it you’ll be wishing you could get away from me and your mother again.”
“yeah, yeah,” she said, shrugging him off playfully and going inside. A moment later she came back to the door with a cat carrier in hand and the animal that was to go in it at her heels. The fluffy feline pranced out in front of her happily rubbing her face against the tall strands of grass that grew along the side of the house. Taika walked after her slowly, but the calico creature continued to step lightly, on her way to the beach.
“Molly, come back here,” she said with a small tone of annoyance as the cat began rolling in the sand. It stood up, coated in sand, when a seagull caught her eye. She slunk across the sand, low to ground, but her location was betrayed by the glittering grains that covered her, lit up by the sun. That cat didn’t seem to care what Taika said to her. “Come on we gotta go,” the girl said scooping up Molly who dripped with sparkling sand. She pet the cat, and as she did removed all the sand from her, letting it hang in the air for a moment before dropping back down. The cat purred, but struggled in her arms to get back down.
“In you go,” she said walking back to the carrier on the ground. The purring stopped and the cat grew nervous. Molly reared back and scrambled her legs in resistance, but Taika shoved her in regardless, and she sulked as the door was closed on her. “It’s only for a little while ok?” she said soothingly, but the cat remained ornery. She picked up the carrier with the handle on top and the whole thing swayed with the weight of the cat lying in the back of it. So she opted to hold it in both arms instead.
“Ok, I’m ready!” she called out, walking back to where her parents were. They were standing beside the neighbor’s old open topped car, the trunk of which was slightly ajar from all the luggage inside. Her parents looked at her with a little apprehension as she went up to them. “I got Molly,” she said, not noticing the look on their faces, and climbing into the back seat of the car and putting the cat at her feet. Her mother got in beside her and sighed a little to herself. Anxiously she took of her wire rimmed glasses and started polishing the lenses.
“I guess we can get going, then?” said the neighbor, a plump man with strong arms who worked on a farm.
“Yes, I suppose so…” her father replied and the two men got into the front. The vehicle sputtered a bit before the engine rolled over and then proceeded to hum evenly. You could feel every bump of the dirt road as they began to move slowly across it. Taika’s father looked back at her and smiled. They pulled out onto the main road and before them stretched out miles and miles of flat farmland that seemed to go on forever. As they drove a wake of dust rose behind them, trailing higher and higher into the sky.
It wasn’t far to the city, but a person couldn’t go very fast on these dirt roads, and the car probably couldn’t go to fast either. Nevertheless a few hours later they arrived in the city when the sun was hanging low in the sky and it was beginning to cool down rather than get even hotter. The pavement that had started when they got near the city turned into bumpy cobblestone left over from a time not so long ago.
“Hey look we’re here,” said the driver, waking Taika from her day dreaming. Around them were lots of old buildings crammed together with old fashion looking street lamps and benches in a circle. The train station was the focus of the circle with an elaborate staircase leading up to it. Sky scrapers loomed in the background and the buildings which once served as the city hall and post office were now a restaurant and a clothing store, cast aside for more practical structures. An ornate clock stood prominently in front of the train station.
“Hey look there she is!” called out the voice of a child. Taika looked about excitedly, recognizing the voice. A gaggle of children her age were gathered near the steps of the station. As soon as the car stopped she jumped out and ran over to them.
“I didn’t know you were going to be here,” she said quietly, with some sorted embarrassment. “We wanted to see you off,” said a girl.
“And I wanted to see you one last time before you left since you won’t be back at school next year,” another replied.
“I wanted to wish you luck,”
“I can’t remember what I’m doing here,” called out someone from the back.
“Thanks you guys,” Taika replied with a little color in her cheeks. “I hope I’ll have friends as good as you at my new school,”
“Oh course you will, I’m going to be there,” said one boy cheekily.
“Yeah me too!” a girl chimed in with a giggle, “It’ll be fun. Right, Ms. Rostova?” they looked to her mother.
“It’s been a long time since I was there, but I’m sure it hasn’t changed much.”
“Where was it your mom and dad are going again, Tai?”
“Ulkoneva,” the woman responded.
“You’re so brave Taika. You’ll be so far away from your parents,”
“Don’t remind me,” she said jokingly.
“You better learn a lot this summer, ok? Something really cool!”
“I’ll try my best!” Just then the whistle of the train blew nearby.
“We’d best get going,” her mother set a hand on her shoulder. “You should say your good byes,”
“Right,” and so Taika set forth, hugging each and every one of the children there before setting off, “Good bye everyone!” she shouted from the top of the stairs leading into the station, and happily went inside. There was a clamor of activity inside. A cacophony of busy people moving to and fro, trying not to be late, to find a new arrival, to buy a last minute ticket, filled the air. Her father stood just inside waiting for her. He took her hand and helped to lead her through the throngs of people.
The locomotive was stopped next to the platform and the conductor was leading people onto the steely monstrosity. Steam from the engine made the air moist and sticky, and led to an almost suffocating feeling when coupled with the sound. Taika said goodbye to her parents and boarded the train alone, looking back as she did. Once she was on she ran to the back to find an empty room where she could let her cat roam about during the trip. Sliding the door open to the first vacant one she found, the girl tossed her bag onto tone of the benches. Excitedly she closed the door and opened the door to Molly’s carrier, although the cat was too startled to come out. Taika didn’t notice for she was already at the window, looking out into the crowd looking for her mother and father. Happily she got up on her knees and craned her neck to see as many people as possible. She laughed to herself in anticipation and marveled at the scene before her.
After a moment she spotted her father among the hustle and bustle. He was looking about the train’s windows for her face. Knowing full well he couldn’t hear her she shouted at him and waved her arms. Even though they didn’t notice her, she was happy to have found her parents. In her mind she tried to remember the image of them standing there, for she wouldn’t be seeing them again for a few months. Up ahead the train started to chug. Her father’s glance met her own and a smile cracked across his face. He got her mother’s attention and she smiled serenely at her daughter too, waving a farewell. Taika waved back, suddenly feeling tears welling up in her eyes. The pistons on the train began to move. Out of nowhere a hand covered her father’s face, callus and clawed, it looked like that of a monster. It jerked him back, and he disappeared into the crowd. Wide eyed Taika looked now to her mother and just as quickly the same thing happened to her. She stifled a scream and looked about. No one next to them seemed to notice what had just happened. There were no monsters in the crowd. Taika couldn’t believe what she had just seen. In an instant her parents were gone, disappeared into nothingness. No, not disappeared-taken. They were taken away, kidnapped. But by who, what? Something with very scary hands, something that can move about unnoticed. The train began to move slowly and deliberately. As she moved past the spot where her parents had been just seconds ago everything looked normal, indistinguishable from the rest of the platform. No panicked people, no commotion, no trace of her mother and father. What could have happened to them? Why would someone want to take them? Why hadn’t anyone noticed? What should she do? Then a knock on the door jolted her back to her present location and out of her train of thought.
The conductor slid open the door. “Can I see your ticket young lady?” he said in a friendly tone.
“S-sure thing,” she tried to hide her face as she handed the paper to him. “here you go,”
He tore the end of the ticket off and handed the rest back to her with a look of concern about the tear now dry on her cheeks and the redness in her eyes.
“Was everything ok when we left?” she spat out nervously, “nothing went wrong did it? Like on the platform or anything?”
“Oh, no no,” he said reassuringly, “everything went just fine. The train is in tip top shape and everyone got onboard before we even started moving. All those people on the platform were just getting off another train or waiting for the next one to arrive. It’s a very busy time of day. Don’t you worry, we’ll be in Port of Opportunity in just two and a half hours.”
“Right,” she said trying to sound calm, “thank you,” she forced a weak smile to her face.
“Well, if you need anything, just ask someone in a uniform,’ the conductor said meaningfully and closed the door, moving on to the next room.
Taika sighed and sank back in her seat. No one had seen it. No one else knew something was wrong, very, very wrong. Would anyone believe her if she told them? It was such an unlikely story. That someone would just go and snatch up her parents in the middle of a crowded train station. Maybe it hadn’t happened. Maybe she was just seeing things. But what? What kind of explanation could there be for what she saw, it was more than just a trick of the eye. She knew what she saw, but what could she do? Pendleton! She could tell Master Pendleton. She would believe her, and she could do something! She’s a great wizard after all. Yes, she will help and make things alright again.
Overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted Taika laid down across the bench and fell fast asleep.