For the Greater Good

Chapter 4

They arrived home very late, exhausted from the nights events. Faron had gone straight to bed, and Pendleton went not long after. Taika, however, stayed up. She had wanted to do some reading to calm herself down as she was still jittery from bumping into that buteon earlier, the one whose hands looked so ghastly and familiar.
Outside the wind gusted occasionally, rattling the trees menacingly, and foreboding the now close storm. Taika wasn’t looking forward to trying to sleep through the loud cracks of thunder, especially since she had been told lightning had a particular fondness for hitting this house. She plopped down on the sofa in the living room with her novel, behind her the inky darkness peeking through the curtains. Everything was quiet save for Molly’s claws clicking on the wood floor as she went to join her on the couch.
Taika laid her hand on the cat’s head absent mindedly rubbing at its ears as she read. As she perused the words on the page she began to be taken away, away from the dark living room and into a land of adventure and valor, mysteries and noble truths, where problems could always be solved through the cunning of the protagonist. The wind howled, but she did not hear it. The only thing that could break her from her concentration was the insistent paws of the cat vying for her attention in the wake of her prior absence. She continued one this way for several chapters, trying hard not to let other thoughts come into play. Paranoia could easily take hold if she were to let herself speculate on the matter, or so she assumed, and so she went on distracting herself.
Just as she was getting to the turning point in her chapter another gust of wind blew outside, but this time it brought with it an unsettling noise. The kind of noise that makes your stomach churn and you wonder whether or not you need to seek cover. So colossal was this bang, this smack, this thud, that it seemed to shake the whole house and made Taika stand bolt upright. It certainly wasn’t thunder, so what was it?
After a second or two that felt like an eternity Taika mustered the courage to look around. Everything was in order, the silence had returned once more, but Molly was cowering wide-eyed and puffy-tailed where she sat. She noticed her owner looking at her and raised her head in mutual confusion.
“What was that?” she whispered aloud, as though it would bring any answers. “Maybe something hit the house,” she said to Molly, who looked back quizzically. “Something blowing in the wind, perhaps…” Clumsily she leaned over the sofa to look out the window. The only thing she could see was the room reflected on the glass. When she pulled the curtains around her chin to alleviate this, all she could see was darkness. The girl stood back up with a frown, the cat trying to look out the window after her and not seeming to spot anything either.
“Maybe we should go out there and check” she had an unexplainable feeling it was something important. As she slipped on her shoes there was a creaking above her from upstairs, but she paid it no mind. Grabbing a walking stick from beside the door she stepped outside into the backyard. There seemed to be no light in that direction aside from the near constant lighting flashing within the clouds far in the distance, but behind her the glow of the city loomed in the fog. It was so humid that it felt hard to breath and the only sound to be heard was the distant echoes of the remaining revelers and the constant whir of crickets which she had become deaf of. It was like an amorphous dream, confusing and uncertain, but with that distant feeling that you have to keep going.
Almost without thinking she took several steps out to the left where she imagined the sound had come from. Lighting up the end of the walking stick did little to help her see as the night seemed to quickly swallow up its luminance. A little further along she could see the lights inside Digby’s house were turned on, but didn’t think such a timid creature would actually come out to investigate.
Trying to peer into the distance, she wasn’t watching where she was stepping. Something brushed against her bare ankle and the child froze in fear, unable to look down. A second later it touched her again and she realized it was just the cat that had followed her out. It was slinking along enterprisingly, but kept being distracted by every tiny movement below.
After several more reproachful steps she reached the edge of the house. With great apprehension, but with a strange sense of purpose she lifted her light and cast it around the yard, hoping to catch a glimpse of something. The large patches of plants in the garden cast long shadows that made it difficult to tell if there was anything unusual. She lowered the light again, flummoxed, and just as she was about to turn back around she heard a noise.
“Is somebody there?” a voice called out weakly. It sounded strange and forced, barely perceptible, and for a moment Taika imagined she had said it herself. The thought was so very unsettling that she felt and knot forming in her stomach, even more so at the thought that she was not the one who said it.
“If there’s someone there, please, I need help,” the voice said again, this time much stronger, but still with an air of forced desperation. Taika was most certainly not imagining things now, but what was she hearing, or rather who was she hearing?
“I-“ she started to respond but then found herself abruptly unaware of how to answer. “Where are you?” she mustered at a volume that was almost inaudible. Then she tried to look around the garden becoming more and more afraid of what could pop out at any moment. Normally she was not inclined to believe in fairy tales about gremlins luring away generous souls, but given the circumstances she was beginning to doubt herself.
“Can- can you follow my voice?” it said again, and Taika began to think it sounded very much like a young man’s voice. “I’m afraid I can’t get up.”
She walked a bit more, with a vague idea of where he was. An ungodly growl came out of Molly, who was standing at the ready in front of the girl, hissing continually. Taika followed her line of sight and spotted something lying on the ground, large and quivering. Her first reaction of fear was quickly taken over again by her curiosity and she pointed her light down upon it. For a moment she couldn’t make out what it was, but then realized quite suddenly upon seeing a feather that it was a buteon sprawled across the ground. Gasping, the walking stick fell clankingly to the ground as she drew her hands toward her face. In the awkward light it cast she could faintly make out an eye peering from the feathered mass, the same kind of wide and piercing she had seen before, only this time it was all together different. There was nothing intimidating about this stare. It portrayed only vulnerability and despair. At that moment her fear disappeared and was replaced by emphatic worry.
Swallowing hard she came back to her senses and picked the light up off the ground. “Are you okay?” she said, trying to sound calm. It was a stupid question, she knew, but she asked it anyway.
“Not really,” the buteon wheezed out with a tremendous shudder of his massive body.
Overcome Taika crouched down near his head, trying not to encroach upon his decumbent figure. Looking up at her were two round and mournful eyes in a shade of golden orange that surely would have been beautiful had they not been full of such profound desperation.
“What happened to you?” she sputtered, her voice cracking as she tried in vain to make sense of his foreign shape.
“I was- that is to say- well my parents” the last word was especially difficult for him to get out. It occurred to Taika from the way his voice sounded that he must be young, younger than Faron it seemed. “They were taken, kidnapped.” He paused and made noise akin to a sob, “I was hurt in the struggle” The words came unnaturally, but Taika felt he was telling the truth. “I tried to go after them, but they got away” a sigh this time, “Before I knew it I was hopelessly lost.” His voice grew quieter and more garbled, and finally he just laid his head back down and closed his eyes.
“You’re going to be okay now,” Taika said instinctively despite the fact that she had no idea how to help him.
“Thank you,” he said almost serenely, eyes still shut. Everything was silent for a moment as Taika thought and the stranger with whom she felt such a sudden and mysterious bond laid in a heap, a faint glimmer of hope burning inside of him, she thought. At once she became aware of the din of insects humming that was broken only by the incessant singing of a wayward bird. It was an isolating feeling, and she shuddered for a moment as though waking from this lucid dream and coming to realize the gravity of what was happening.
“Let me help you inside,” she said at length. “I’m sure my Master can do something to help you.”
“Your master?”
“Yes, she’s a wizard and I’m her apprentice.” Taika added quickly, “My name’s Taika, sorry for not introducing myself earlier,” it was quite rude not to do so…
“I’m Haytham, nice to meet you, Taika. Now if you could just help me up here; I can’t seem to use my arms…” He folded up his sprawling wings onto his back, leaving only his twisted body exposed. It was so much smaller looking than before, and infinitely more pathetic. Taika was astonished by how much room those wings had been taking up, presumably squishing Digby’s garden beneath them.
“Oh, of course, I apologize.” She said, trying to size up where about to grab him from.
“That’s quite alright,” he said dreamily, making the child worry whether he was becoming delirious. She tried to seize him around the middle and stand up, fully expecting to have to augment her meager strength in order to do so, but much to her surprise he seemed to way net to nothing. His feathered girth nearly smothered her as he struggled to get balanced, taloned feet ripping into the soft earth beneath them. He felt slick with moisture and radiated an alarming amount of heat as thought steam should be rising from his being.
When he finally got to his feet and stood on his own he towered at twice her height before quickly lumbering over into a sickly slouch. She was about to hand him her walking stick when she noticed the way he was holding his arm up against himself as though it was hurt and that the other was dangling uselessly at his side. Glancing at it momentarily it appeared gnarled and twisted, and she quickly averted her eyes from the grotesque sight. In lieu of this she tried to press her shoulder up toward him to lean on, which he did quite clumsily.
“It’s not far to the house, okay?” she said reassuringly as her came close to breaking for him. With short steps she moved with the trembling boy on her back, resolute in keeping steady so as to try and pass on some of that grit to him. He wheezed and stumbled, but managed to keep from falling over, sometimes by sticking out his wings a little to balance himself. “Almost there,” she said assuredly, sensing that each step was harder for him than the last.
Pendleton had just come up to the back door and opened it up for them to come through. She was wearing a foreign looking set of pajamas with a sleeping cap, but foremost wore a look of utmost concern. Faron was inside looking dazed and confused. “Whoa, whoa, s’at what made the noise?” she said to herself and rushed over to help Haytham onto the sofa.
Taika looked on at him, wringing her hands, “He’s in trouble,” she said almost panicked to Master Pendleton. “he’s hurt and he said his parents were kidnapped.”
“Is that so?” she responded knowingly.
“Yes” he breathed shortly, attempting to nod his heavy head.
“Where did it happen? I assure you I can help,”
“No,” he stopped short, “It happened in Ulkoneva, there’s nothing you can do,” his hopeless tone returned in full.
“Wait, you mean you came all the way from Ulkoneva?” Faron interjected, “No wonder you look like crap,”
“There’s nothing you can do, even if you are a wizard,” he was very distraught now, almost angry. Taika looked to him, her eyes stinging with tears. She realized his situation was just like hers, only much worse.
“In that case let me take care of you,” Pendleton said firmly, walking over to him, hand outstretched.
He was doubled over limply, “I-I’m very tired.”
“You’ll be alright now, laddie, calm yourself,” she laid a hand on his shoulder and he leaned his head toward it receptively. “Faron, go and get the spare room ready for him. He needs some rest.”
“Right,” she looked back, seeming concerned and confused about the boy who had entered their lives so unceremoniously.
Pendleton started to check on his mangled arm. “Taika, you should go to bed too. You’ve done a good job today,” she could see the girl was crying, “but there’s nothing more you can do now.” It seemed there was never anything Taika could do, not for herself, and not even for someone else.