[REND] B2. 15.2 - Chips to Bargain, Chips to Eat

Kelsey Fletcher

“Anything?” Kelsey asked Erind, who was sitting in front of her laptop, searching the internet for any developments about Myra and the PCM.

“Nothing that we can follow,” Erind said. “Some more posts about possible Adumbrae attacks. Rumormongering? These locations might be PCM establishments. But if we go there, we’d just meet the police. I think that no actual news is good news.”

“I still want news about my sister,” said Kelsey. “Try calling her this time.”

Earlier, Kelsey had asked Erind to call Myra when they realized that Myra had gone after the PCM. But Erind didn’t want to. Erind reasoned that she might become a person of interest in police investigations if she called while Myra was killing PCM members. The police might review the cellphone signals in the area and review the calls they received during the time of the incident.

“But they might trace—” Erind started to say.

“It’s been two hours since you saw that post about the attack,” Kelsey said. “Either she’s in hiding, or she’s already been caught. Calling her now won’t peg you as a suspect. We need to find out what’s going on. I need to know that she’s alright.”

(Erind doesn’t want to help you,) Keke piped up in her head. (She’s only concerned about her safety.)

(It’s logical for her to be careful,) Kelsey replied to the Adumbrae, sighing in her head.

Keke had been disparaging Erind since yesterday. It was difficult to sleep with Keke constantly bothering her. But Kelsey knew that Keke was only looking out for her best interests—this might be an insane thought to other people, trusting an Adumbrae taking over her body, but Keke had proven herself a friend. Kelsey would’ve been turned into an offering by the cult if not for Keke. That was an undeniable fact.

Her transformation into a monster was a regrettable and unavoidable consequence of accepting Keke’s help. This was the price to pay so that she and Myra could escape the cult… and their parents. Kelsey has convinced herself not to resent Keke over the years. The alternative—if Keke didn’t save them—was much worse.

Erind reached for her phone. “Okay, I’ll try calling your sister.” She set the phone on loudspeaker and placed it on the table so that Kelsey could also see the name ‘Myra Fletcher’ on the screen.

Is that Myra’s number? Kelsey wondered.

It wasn’t that Kelsey suspected Erind called a random number to avoid contacting Myra, changing the info in her contacts when Kelsey wasn’t looking. Rather, Kelsey was worried that she could no longer remember Myra’s phone number.

She should know it. She had seen it many times. Called it. Texted it. She could probably write it down with her eyes closed back then. Yet, she was drawing a blank now.

Were parts of her memory disappearing?

(I’m not at fault,) Keke said, washing her with warmth to calm her panic. (This is a natural consequence of your transformation. As your brain physically changes, a few memories are inadvertently cast away.)

(I… I know,) Kelsey replied. She tried to suppress the doubt in her heart, as well as the renewed yearning to be human again.

But Keke had already sensed her thoughts. (You don’t have to hide anything from me—I’ve always told you that. I know that you want to return to your normal life. To become human again. I understand you. I’m not preventing you from attaining it… If it’s possible. Didn’t I support you in approaching the PCM for help?)

(You did, yeah.) And Keke also took over when Kelsey was imprisoned by the PCM, sparing her from the mental torture of living in darkness for days, and the physical pain that the experiments brought.

(I’m on your side. I worry that you might be too trusting of Erind. Don’t forget that she’s not like us; she’s an anomaly who wouldn’t understand us. Don’t forget that she has eaten our limbs.) Keke dug up the memories to back up her words, making Kelsey relive the horrors of yesterday night. It was an excruciating torture having their limbs eaten and bars driven into their body, pinning them to a wall.

(I know that.) Kelsey pushed away the nightmarish scenes. (Receiving Erind’s help doesn’t mean that I trust her.)

(I’ll be here to counsel you if her lies start to cloud your judgment.)

Their mental conversation happened in the span of only a few seconds.

“Hmmm… Myra must’ve turned it off,” Erind said, as her phone spoke with an automatic female voice telling them the number they were calling might be out of the coverage area. “Means that she has her phone but is still on her solo mission to destroy the PCM.”

“Or she might’ve already gotten caught,” Kelsey said. “It’s been hours since she started this craziness!”

“Don’t jump to conclusions. We can’t know for sure what had happened to Myra.”

“That’s the problem! I won’t merely wait for news while something is definitely happening to my sister. I’m going to—”

“You can’t go out,” Erind said.

“I fucking know!” Kelsey growled without meaning to. “We’re in the middle of the city. It’s daytime. People can see me and shit. I can’t even wear a disguise because I’m so tall with horns! I’m not going to make the situation worse.”

(We traded one prison for another,) Keke said. (A much better accommodation, granted. But a prison nonetheless. Erind is our jailer.)

Kelsey didn’t bother replying to Keke. Pointing a clawed finger at Erind, Kelsey said, “You go out to find Myra. She’s obviously in danger.”

“I can’t leave you alone here,” Erind said.

(She doesn’t trust you,) Keke was quick to point out.

“And why the fuck not?” Kelsey asked, putting her hands on her hips. “Do you think that I’m not an idiot who’s going to leave after you do? I had just enumerated why I couldn’t go out!”

Erind didn’t answer her directly, swerving the conversation to another excuse. “I don’t even know where to begin searching. Like, what do I do? Attack other PCM bases to question people? I’d just risk running into the police. And after what Myra had done, the PCM guys will be hiding anyway. Here’s my plan. We’ll wait until nighttime—”

“That’s too long!” Kelsey stomped her foot in frustration, but caught herself at the very last moment and managed to lessen her force. However, she couldn’t avoid cracking the floor tiles a tiny bit.

Erind glared at Kelsey. Then, her fierce stare mellowed as she shook her head. “Let’s calm down, okay? I know that telling someone to calm down hadn’t worked in like ever, but just give me a moment to explain.”

(She’s prioritizing her safety,) Keke said. (That may be expected out of every being, but also expect the time would come when your safety will be pitted with hers.)

Kelsey didn’t reply to either Erind or Keke. She only stepped back and gave a slight nod.

Erind held up two fingers. “There are two possibilities—either the PCM got your sister, or the BID does. Well, the third scenario is she’s safe but got her phone smashed or something—we don’t have any problem if that’s the case. But let’s assume that Myra is in danger. If the BID got her, we won’t have any way of knowing where they’d bring her. I don’t think even Johann could pull that info by hacking the police system. This is the BID we’re talking about. That said, I don’t think that the BID has captured Myra.”

“And why is that?” Kelsey asked.

Though she still didn’t trust Erind, she felt slightly assured that Erind remained level-headed despite the crisis at hand. Kelsey couldn’t deny that she was on the verge of an anxiety attack. A pang of guilt stabbed Kelsey when she realized that Myra would’ve felt the same way when she disappeared after the Adumbrae attacked the trains.

“Because Deen also isn’t answering.” Erind raised her phone, showing Deen’s name on the screen. A message saying that the call was forwarded to voicemail played. “I’ve mentioned that Deen’s power warns her of danger. The fact that her phone is still switched off means that she’s looking for, or may already be trying to save your sister from the PCM. Why the PCM and not the BID? If the BID got Myra, Deen would already be here to whisk me away to flee to India or something.”

“What if the PCM has captured Deen, too? Aren’t you concerned about your friend?”

“If Deen uses her power correctly, then there’s no way that harm will befall her. If she messes up—eh, I think she has learned her lesson not to be stubborn. I trust her. Maybe she’ll save Myra soon enough.”

“We should help Amber Deen!”

“I don’t even know where to start looking for her,” Erind said, her voice threatening to rise.

“Who told her about Myra? Someone must’ve.”

“Johann,” Erind said with certainty.

Kelsey tilted her head. “Johann? What does he have to do with—?”

“Myra and Johann have a thing going on,” Erind explained. “You know that, right? You’re her sister…”

“I didn’t know,” Kelsey whispered, looking at the floor. She had been too focused on herself that she barely noticed what was going on with Myra’s life. Even Myra was focused on her, working for Dario and the Professor in return for a cure that didn’t work. Keke was right—Kelsey was being selfish.

“Well, they’re trying to keep it low,” Erind said. “But it’s so obvious. I assume that Myra told Johann about whatever she was doing, just in case something bad happened. Johann couldn’t contact Myra anymore and asked Deen for help because of her power. This also means that Johann didn’t contact Dario because he wanted to keep you safe.”

In the end, my sister is still in danger because of me, Kelsey thought with much sadness. She ran away to not mess up Myra’s life, but what she was avoiding still happened. It probably would have been better if she hadn’t run.

(You wanted your sister to have a normal life without you.) Keke repeated the words of comfort that she had said several times before. (The unraveling of the situation is out of your control.)

(I know that. But, still…)

“The fact that Dario hasn’t gathered the team,” Erind continued, “means that the BID isn’t involved. Johann will go to Dario if the BID got Myra—his priority would be finding Myra, not protecting you.”

“I guess so,” Kelsey said, still not convinced.

“Like, the situation is bad. But not super-duper bad. Deen and Johann think that they got this. If the PCM captured Myra, they won’t kill her because they’d want to use her as a hostage when we strike. Specifically, Deen and I—the PCM thinks that there are two more Adumbrae… Hang on. If they examine Myra, they’ll find her Core. That’ll probably buy more time.”

“Why are you so casual about my sister getting examined?” Kelsey asked, leaning down to glower at Erind. “The PCM is going to experiment on her. That’s what they’re going to do.”

“And she’s going to endure it for a few more hours,” Erind said. “I don’t know where Deen or Johann are. We definitely won’t be asking Dario for help; not sure what help he can offer anyway. But I do have other resources.”

“The gangsters.”

“Yep. I’ll send them as feelers to the PCM. Check out the demands for Myra’s release. Find out where they’re keeping Myra so we can attack and so on.”

“Can’t you call that Overdrive person or someone else now?” Kelsey was antsy for any concrete progress. Myra could withstand the PCM’s experiments, but Kelsey didn’t want her sister to suffer any longer than necessary. After all, this was all Kelsey’s fault. Maybe she should’ve revealed herself to Myra to prevent this from happening.

“Uh, I don’t have their number,” said Erind. “I don’t want them to be able to trace me. I should have a stock of burner phones or something. Could those be traced? Anyway, the plan is to return to Marsh Row at night to command the gangs. We’ll go—you and I.”

“Can’t you go there now? I’ll follow you later. We can’t afford to waste time waiting here.”

“I don’t want to leave you for long.”

Kelsey wanted to scream in frustration. “I’m not going out until it’s completely dark. You have my word. I also don’t want to get caught—how can I help my sister if the BID is chasing me?”

“It’s not about that. I’m worried that the Adumbrae inside you will manifest when I’m gone.”

“Wha-what? Nothing happened while you were sleeping! Keke’s in hibernation.”

They argued for several more minutes, but Erind didn’t want to leave Kelsey alone. “Just a few more hours,” Erind added. “Being optimistic, maybe Deen can rescue Myra, or Myra wasn’t even captured. We shouldn’t haphazardly move because we might end up in trouble instead. Here… Eat something.”

Erind tossed Kelsey a bag of chips. Kelsey raised a brow at it.

“Relax and watch a movie,” Erind said. “The next thing you know, it’ll be dark. Then we’ll head out.”

Around 7:00 p.m., Kelsey and Erind left the condo through the window. Erind wanted to wait another hour or so, but Kelsey pestered her into going. It wasn’t too difficult to leave the condominium and hop onto the next building.

“How are the clothes I bought?” Erind asked.

Kelsey wore a leather vest for her top; men’s size to accommodate her muscular shoulders and large bust. Erind had mentioned she couldn’t find any such vest for women anyway. For her bottom, Kelsey wore heavy cargo shorts. Erind bought them in the hopes that they’d survive brushing against Kelsey’s scales. They were far from stylish, so Kelsey ripped a few inches from the bottom of the cargo shorts to make them look more flattering.

“They’re holding up well so far,” Kelsey said. “But I can’t avoid my scales snagging against them sometimes.”

“I really don’t know what material is impervious to your scales.”

“No big deal. I’ll go naked if I have to. Let’s go to Marsh Row.”