Special Eyes Chapter 16

Jackie rode in the car in silence. Beside him behind the wheel was Waller having long since tore off that fake beard and tossed it in the trunk of his beat up red sedan. They were on their way to the police station.

Finally, the silence was broken when Waller asked, "How come you didn't take the offer?"

"Offer?"

"The one Liu offered to work with him," Waller elaborated. "Seemed like a pretty good deal."

**********

Back when Arthur Liu, the Rat, offered Jackie the chance to work together to stop the Gathering's terrible plot to spark a major disaster, Jackie's response was an immediate, "Hell no!"

Liu took the refusal in stride, as if he had expected it. He withdrew the hand he offered to shake Jackie's and took a step back. 

"I see," he said, his calm and gentle demeanor unchanging. "That is too bad. But seeing as we both want the same thing, I am sure we will meet again."

He then bid Jackie and Waller farewell with a tip of his hat, sharply turned at his heels and walked away.

"I should get going too," said Jackie. And he turned to leave. But Waller wasn't about to let him get away that easily.

"Hold it. You and I need to have a serious talk, kid. You can either come with me to the police station to face the music, or we can get your dad to take you there later. Your choice. Either way, you're in big trouble."

Jackie decided to take the former and get it over with sooner rather than later.

**********

"It wouldn't have worked out," he said while staring out the window, referring to working with the Rat.

Waller raised an eyebrow and went, "Oh?"

"Those Egregors, he killed them all. Am I right?"

"Sure looked that way to me," said Waller, flipping on the turn signal.

"He did it even though he must have known they were being controlled. I can understand offing a monster that might have a thing for snacking on people, but those monsters didn't have a choice. They were acting against their will, but he showed them no mercy. I could never work with a guy like that."

Waller wondered if Jackie could still say the same thing if he could see what the Egregors looked like. But the accountant decided to keep that thought to himself and kept driving.

"And Liu's wrong," the kid added. "He said we wanted the same thing, but I doubt it. What he wants is probably something I don't."

"And what exactly do you want?" Waller asked as he turned into the parking lot. He rolled down the window, slapped his key card on the white sensor box and then retreated back inside as the fence gate opened to a slope down into darkness.

"Same thing I've always wanted," Jackie replied. "To help Alice."

"You haven't given up on that? After she clearly showed she's with the Gathering of her own will?"

After spiraling round and round to Underground Level B, Waller drove the car into a wide expanse of parking stalls marked with white paint on plain, blackened concrete. He chose one halfway to the elevators and claimed it.

"I can't really blame her for buying into the Wizard's shtick. I can't blame any of them. But Alice is in for some major trouble if she goes through with that guy's Ritual. And I don't want that."

"For crying out loud, she called you, her enemy!"

"Even still, I can't let anything happen to her."

After shutting the car off, Waller turned. He could see in Jackie's eyes that the kid was serious.

"Oh my god, you're head over heels for that girl, aren't you?"

Jackie didn't say anything and got out of the car.

For once, he made Waller snicker. The accountant wanted to tease the kid more, but knew that if he did, it'd put him in a better mood, which was bad when the whole point of coming here was so Jackie could get a stern scolding. 

Once the car affirmed it was locked with a honk, Waller led Jackie up the elevator to the top floor. Along the way, some faces familiar to Jackie got on and then off. One of them was the officer who arrested him the first time. 

"Back again, I see," he said to Jackie. And then to Waller, he asked, "I thought you were in accounting. Since when could you arrest people?"

"Since never," Waller replied back.

The officer decided not to pry. But he was certain as he got off the elevator and headed for the locker room that Jackie got in trouble again.

After hopping off the elevator, Waller led Jackie down the right-side hallway all the way to the end where a polished wood door awaited them. The golden plaque on it identified the room behind as the office of the police chief.

Jackie was not surprised having overheard Waller talking on the phone with the police chief just before the car ride over. It was also no surprise to see Arnold in the office since Waller arranged the meeting to include Jackie's stepfather. 

Understandably, Arnold looked overstuffed with questions and was about to explode in a second. He only just barely kept his patience thanks to the presence of his boss.

The police chief, Anton Martin, sat back in his big, black-leather cushion office chair, looking mightily comfortable while holding his two hands connected together by their fingertips in front of his face, dressed in ceremonial police attire: a midnight blue blazer and matching necktie over white dress shirt with his polished badge pinned on the left. Jackie put his age between mid to late sixties. His skin was as dark as plain coffee, and his hair, cut half inch and curled, was the color of storm clouds.

"Ah, Thomas! And this must be Jackie. Please, have a seat."

No sooner did Jackie sit down, Arnold lost his patience. "Alright, what's going on here? Why'd you call me here, Chief? And why's my son here?"

"Stepson," Jackie grumbled. But he was ignored.

"We're here, Arnold," said the police chief, "because your son ran into a little trouble and Waller had to step in to get him out."

"What!? What kind of trouble?" Arnold jerked his head over to Jackie, but Jackie would not return his gaze. "And how'd you get mixed up in it, Waller?"

"That," Waller said, "is something I wanted Chief Martin to explain. I thought it'd be better to hear it from him."

"To start," said Chief Martin, "let me let you in on a little secret. You know how police investigations can get held up because rules, regulations and all that bureaucratic red tape. To get around that, I decided to start a special program, with permission from the police board, of course."

He glanced up at Arnold who folded his arms over his chest and said, "I'm listening."

"How the program works is, we enlist people to go through standard police training and then help with investigating the kinds of cases I mentioned earlier. These people who aren't police officers themselves, so they can't make any arrests or barge into places to search for evidence. But they won't get bogged down by the rules either, so they can get into and go snooping places that we can't when we're not able to get a warrant. And they'll be equipped to handle any dangerous situation they happen to run into."

"In other words, the Chief's got his own little spy program going on," Waller said. "And I'm one of those spies."

"You're a spy!?" Arnold cried out in surprise.

"I knew it!" Jackie shouted. "I knew you got something special going on."

"It's not as impressive as you think," Waller said. "All I do is go to places like a normal person and then come back and let the Chief in on what I see and hear. He decides what's useful and passes it along to whoever's got a case that's got them scratching their heads so they know where they can look for answers themselves."

"Oh, don't be so modest, Thomas," said Chief Martin. "You helped crack lots of cases and saved quite a few people while you were at it. You're the very definition of an unsung hero."

"Not by choice," Waller said sourly. "I only wanted to work in someplace back office  so I could live in peace. Not get roped into situations time after time, after time again that give me constant heart palpations. I should've realized something was fishy when you had me sent to the police academy."

"In any case, because all our officers seemed to have a hard time getting ahold of the Gathering who are suspected of being connected to the recent string of people disappearing, I decided to have Waller sneak into their meetings as a new member and find out who's in charge and what they were up to. He . . . sort of matches the kind of people they're looking to recruit."

"How so?" asked Arnold.

Waller quickly cut in with an angry, "That is private information that I don't want anyone poking their noses in, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

"Sorry, Arnold," said the Chief. "You're just going to have to take what I said at face value."

Arnold wasn't satisfied, but he begrudgingly backed down and the Chief continued. 

"So now we all know what Thomas has been up to and why. He joined the Gathering as a member and went to one of their meetings to spy on them when . . ."

"The kid got caught trying to sneak in too," Waller finished. 

"Which I am curious about," Chief Martin confessed. "How'd you do it, Jackie? How did you manage to find the Gathering's hideout or one of their hideouts when the best detectives in the city couldn't?"

All eyes were on Jackie now. Reluctantly, he explained how he pinpointed people who might be interested in joining the Gathering by searching the internet, chose one, and followed. He detailed being spotted by Taylor who alerted security who captured him and threw him into a fake cave in the basement.

Of course, he left out the part about how the Wizard had legit magic powers, invisible monsters were real, and that Alice was now one of the Wizard's top students. Jackie also left out the appearance of Arthur Liu and his mad sword dancing skills.

Arnold was not happy not hear what his step-son had been up to. And his frown got deeper and deeper the further Jackie went with his story, until he could no longer contain a groan.

"And then we came here," Jackie said in conclusion of the story.

Arnold had his face down in his hands. Waller stood, arms crossed and frowning. Chief Martin rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then leaned closer to Jackie, propping his elbows on his desk and his chin over his interlocked fingers.

"Tell me, Jackie," he said. "What did you notice about the Wizard? You got a good look at him, didn't you? Give me even the littlest details you can remember."

"Well," said Jackie, hesitating a little. "I'd say he's either thirty-nine years old or forty-three years old. He got rich parents, but something must have happened to their money. And his first name begins with the letter D. But that's all I can think of right now."

Waller gaped at Jackie, dumbfounded. "How the hell did you find all that out? You're not just spitting out random garbage are you?"

Jackie frowned in dismay. "It's his watch. I got a good look at it and it's a custom-made R brand watch. It matches the watches in one of those old magazines Arnold hoards in his closet, so no mistaking something like that. Those cost a lot of money. The face of the watch got a message on it that read, 'Congrats, D. Love Mom and Dad.' Put two and two together, you get the dude's parents used to be rich."

"How about the age?" asked Chief Martin. "How did you get the numbers thirty-nine or forty-three to that?"

"The message had a date under it," Jackie explained. "It was June 5th, twenty-one years ago. Since the watch was a congratulations gift, it makes sense that his parents were congratulating him for graduating, since graduations usually fall between May and June. Since people usually graduate high school at the age of eighteen or college at the age of twenty-two, add twenty-one years, you get either thirty-nine years old or forty-three years old."

"And the part about something happening to their money?" Chief Martin inquired with intrigue.

"Well, most people with parents who could afford a custom-made R watch normally wouldn't need to start something that is pretty much a cult," said Jackie. "He mentioned being betrayed and wanting revenge so I figured something must have happened to the money and it's someone's fault. At the least, the Wizard seems pretty convinced that it's someone else's fault that something bad happened to him."

For a moment after, silence fell over the office. And then -

"Thank you, Jackie," said Chief Martin. "This has been very enlightening. We got to learn more about who we are dealing with thanks to you. But I can't say what you did was a good thing. You put yourself in terrible danger and could have gotten hurt or worse. I should also add that because of your actions, the investigation has gotten a tremendous setback."

"What? Why?"

"What do you mean why?" Waller angrily snapped. "What do you think is going to happen once that Wizard finds out you escaped? He's not dumb. He's going to know I'm the one who helped spring you out. Now I can't ever go back to dig up more about their grand master plan. Sure, I got that stupid costume on, but it sounds like they're already done looking for new members, which means I can't even try re-enter with a different look! You basically ruined our best chance to stop the Gathering, the Wizard, from doing something majorly bad for everyone!"

**********

"That was rather harsh, don't you think?" Chief Martin said to Waller.

Arnold had taken Jackie home so it was just the two of them left in the office. Jackie's face, as he trudged out, bore an extremely dejected look while Arnold's held the look of extreme anger.

"Oh don't give me that," Waller snapped. "It was the truth and he deserved it. Not to mention, the kid's stubborn as hell. Sometimes you gotta be harsh to teach someone to finally learn not to do something stupid."

"Let's agree to disagree there," said Chief Martin. "Do you have anything else to add to Jackie's story? It seemed to me he was holding something back."

"Figures you'd noticed," said Waller. "You certainly didn't get your job from the virtue of good luck. Yeah. There is something the kid left out. The Wizard's legit. He's got powers, strong enough to levitate two dozen folks for a couple of seconds. And he's got more monsters under his thumb than a Super Bowl star's got fans. Oh, and he's got the Rat interested in him."

Chief Martin raised his eyebrows in surprise. "The Rat? As in one of China's most powerful wizards, named after the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac?"

"That's the one," Waller said. "Saw him with my own eyes take down a dozen or so pests with a sword like a Jedi."

"Now that's concerning," said Chief Martin. "The last time the Rat showed up was during the Hell City incident. That incident was the closest the world got to an apocalypse."

"Don't remind me," said Waller. "I know. Thanks to him and some wizards on our side of the globe, the world is still spinning. But an entire city got lost in the process. MY city."

"You know the Rat personally, don't you, Thomas?" asked Chief Martin. "What do you think? Do you believe we got another big catastrophe like that on our hands?"

"I don't know him THAT well. But I do know this: the sooner we put an end to the Wizard and his Gathering, the better. I do not want to find out what that Ritual of theirs ends up being."

<== Chapter 15                                                                 Chapter 17 ==>

Special Eyes Chapter 15

Waller could not believe the mess he was in. It was supposed to be a simple undercover mission. The plan was just to go in, listen to whatever garbage the Wizard spewed and then get out easy-peasy. And yet here he was, with a kid in tow, surrounded by a horde of monsters that looked like they belonged in a surrealist's art museum right outside enemy headquarters while armed only with a silver plate worn over his fingers and a bag of salt in his pocket. With so many monsters (the most monsters he'd seen in one day in a long, long time), he doubted what he had would be enough.

It was at that moment, that Jackie decided to speak up. "Uh . . . I'm guessing by the way your hands are trembling and the way you're looking around, we're in really deep doo-doo right now."

Waller wanted to shout at the kid, "Yeah? And whose fault do you think it is?" He was unbelievably angry with Jackie for putting him in "deep doo-doo". But now was not the time for that. Think, Waller. Think! How can you get out of this mess?

He looked around, wracking his brain. But as far as he could see, there was no way out. The monsters were all tightly packed together, leaving no gaps to slip out of. Even if Waller knocked one aside to give himself room to slip away, the other monsters would pounce on him and he'd be finished. And then Jackie would be next.

Hoping to be a little bit helpful, the kid suggested, "I don't suppose these guys would be open to parley?"

Waller did one more survey of the monsters around them. Some of the monsters licked their lips with disgustingly long tongues. A wolf with three eyes and a scorpion's tail had a waterfall of drool flowing out of its mouth. 

"No, I don't think they would be."

"Why haven't they attacked yet?"

"Probably because of the salt bath you gave us earlier." But Waller knew the salt's protection won't last for long. Its effectiveness will surely fade. And the monsters knew that. It was only a matter of time.

And that time was now.

The biggest of the monsters, an elephant-sized velociraptor with gorilla arms, lunged. Waller raised the silver plate at it, but the monster was smart. It went at Waller's left and swung a huge fist. 

Waller jumped back and narrowly avoided a devastating blow but was then snagged by the vine of an uprooted flower standing at five feet tall with a cackling skull nestled between its yellow petals. He got pulled to the ground and pinned down by the smaller monsters. Many of them were repelled by whatever little salt grains remained stuck on the accountant's clothes, but some dog-sized ones resisted and clung on. 

Waller didn't have time to shrug the little beasts off when a ginormous gorilla fist came falling down over his head. The rest of the larger monsters pounced towards Jackie, but he couldn't see and didn't react at all.

Fist and claw were an inch from Waller and Jackie's faces respectively when a split second later, something like a super wind gust swept all the monsters aside and sent them tumbling down the road. 

Waller blinked, bewildered. So did Jackie, though not for the same reason. 

He remained unaware of the extremely narrow brush with death. Because as far as he could see, the street around him and Waller, was empty. At least until he blinked his eyes and then found a man in a three-piece suit standing in front of him, a hand resting on a unique T-shaped cane.

Jackie recognized him immediately. It was the man who had saved him before, the one Daisy called the Rat. 

In surprise, Jackie cried out, "What are you doing here?" 

With a tip of his Fedora hat, the Rat replied, "I happened to be in the area when I saw you and this fine gentleman here in a spot of trouble. I must say, Jackie Li, you are quite the magnet for it."

Waller turned to see who Jackie was talking to and the bewilderment on his face exploded into full-blown shock. Louder than Jackie, he shouted, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"

The Rat glanced at the accountant and then his eyes lit up. "Oh! Thomas Waller! It has been a long time, hasn't it?"

Opposite of the Rat's mild pleasure, Waller glared. "Not long enough."

Jackie turned from the Rat to Waller. "Uh . . . You guys know each other?"

"You could say that," said Waller, without taking his distrustful eyes off the gentlemanly cane wielder.

"I would love to play catch up with you both, but that will have to wait." The Rat nodded towards the side of the road where the monsters shook off their daze and picked themselves up. "Excuse me while I go tidy this place up."

He tipped his hat again and then started strolling over to the monsters. The monsters saw the gentleman coming, growled and then all charged at him at once. 

First was the velociraptor, which threw one of its gorilla fists down over the Rat's head. But in one swift motion, the Rat drew a sword out of his cane and weaved around the ginormous creature in a spin. The blade sliced cleanly through the beast's side like a knife through soft butter. Before the velociraptor hit the ground, it completely crumbled to ashes.

From behind the Rat, the toad with carpenter nails for teeth leaped with its mouth wide open. Only to split in half a second later. Its ashes flew away with the wind.

One by one, huge, hideous, mix mashed creatures disappeared into clusters of ashes, slain with ease by one man who appeared to be in his fifties or sixties. All Jackie could see, however, was the man just dancing down the road while swinging a sword in wide, elegant swipes and twirls. It was still impressive to watch for the boy who had only seen such sword dances on Wuxia television before.

Pretty quickly, the remaining monsters realized they stood no chance against this man in a straight fight, so they circled around him and aimed their fangs, claws and whatnot at Waller and Jackie instead. They were swift. But Waller wasn't about to let the Rat earn all the credit in this battle.

He already had his own bag of salt ready and flung it in front of him. An intense fireworks display happened right in front of his nose. Dozens and dozens of crackles and pops ruptured his eardrums. But it was worth it to see those monsters get what was coming for them. Waller's childhood had been ruined by their kind, so he's always felt vengeful against them.

With the monsters all momentarily stunned, the Rat seized his chance to dispatch the rest of them. He dove straight into the horde, slicing and dicing without mercy as he made sharp zigzags around the street. Not even half a minute passed before he was done with his one-sided extermination and sheathed his sword.

Despite the display of extreme acrobatics, the Rat didn't look tired at all. He didn't even have a single bead of sweat on his forehead.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked.

Jackie nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for the save. Those were some nice moves back there. Where did you learn to do stuff like that?"

"You are welcome, young man," the Rat said with a proud smile. "I learned my fighting techniques from a martial arts master when I was small child alongside many others my age. I have many fond memories from those days. It has been a while though, since I last saw so many Egregors in one place."

Jackie blinked. "Egre-what?"

"Egregors," the Rat said slowly. "That is what those creatures were, the ones you cannot see."

"You mean the invisible monsters?" asked Jackie. "Why are they called Egre-whatsits?" 

"It's because," Waller chimed in, "the way those pests look depends on the kind of brain the people around them got."

"Egregors are born shapeless, like goo," said the Rat. "As they mature, they transform from absorbing the thoughts of human beings around them, becoming a mixture of whatever those thoughts contain.

"Say for example a young Egregor happened to be near a person thinking about cats. As that Egregor grows, it will start looking more like a cat. And then the Egregor runs into someone thinking about toasters. The Egregor will then take the shape of a toaster."

"I think I get it," said Jackie. "Then when the Egregor grows up, it'll look like a toaster with cat legs. Or maybe it will look like a cat, but with a toaster for a head. Something like that?"

The Rat nodded.

"Okay, enough of the monster biology lesson," Waller cut through. He glared at the Rat. "What are you doin here, Liu?"

Jackie blinked. "Liu? I thought you were called the Rat."

"Ah, so you already know the nickname I earned from my career. But I suppose it is high time I gave a proper introduction." The old Asian gentleman took off his hat. "I am Arthur Liu, an enforcer of the Black Tortoise Order, part of the greater Four Corners Union. But a great many people know me by the name I gained after earning my rank as one of the Twelve Zodiac, the Rat. A bit too grandiose and over dramatic for my liking, so I much prefer to be called by my name."

"Pleasure to meet you." Jackie extended his hand out and then added, "Again, I guess."

Liu gave Jackie's hand a firm shake and replied, "Likewise."

"ENOUGH!" Waller's patience had long reached its end. "Tell me what you're doing here Liu and get out!"

"Well, which is it?" Liu asked. "Tell you what I am doing here or get out? I can't do both. Or maybe I can. Modern technology can allow even common folk to accomplish feats once thought magical or fantastical."

"Liu, I swear if you don't stop joking around . . ."

"There is no need for threats, Thomas," Liu said. "You and I are friends, aren't we?"

"We are NOT friends," snapped Waller.

"Why, Thomas! I am hurt!" 

Waller growled. HIs face as red as a tomato. 

Liu sighed. "Very well. If you must know, the recent rise of a group in this city caught my interest. They are called the Gathering, I believe."

"So the Wizard's that bad, huh?" Waller said.

"I believe today has shown how dangerous he is," Liu said, throwing a glance at Jackie. "Assuming, of course, this so-called Wizard is who controlled those Egregors."

"Yeah," said Waller. "He's the one who started the whole thing."

"So that explains it," said Liu. "When I arrived in this city, I sensed a . . . What do you Americans call it? . . . A disturbance in the Force."

Jackie giggled. "An old man just quoted Star Wars."

Waller rolled his eyes and shook his head with a groan.

"It was most strong in areas the Gathering have been known to congregate," Liu continued to explain, "Concerned, I tracked the Gathering to this street and came to find out more about them when I saw you two surrounded by hostile Egregors."

"I suppose I should be thankful you came when you did," Waller said. "Dealing with you is better than dealing with being monster chow. Maybe. It's too bad you came here for nothing though. You just missed them. The Gathering's done with their thing, and they've all gone home. I seriously doubt they'll be back."

"On the contrary, Thomas," said Liu, "my trip was not for nothing. I have two witnesses here who surely has information I can learn from. Even if not, I have learned plenty already."

"How so?" asked a curious Jackie.

"The size of the Egregors, the sheer number of them left behind just to guard this one location, it shows this Wizard is capable of great, terrible things."

"Or how wasteful he is," Waller pointed out.

"Maybe," Liu conceded. "But that does not make him any less of a threat that could bring large-scale harm to this city."

"Do you think that's what the Ritual's all about?" asked Jackie. "Make some kind of big disaster happen that'd hurt a lot of people?"

Liu raised an eyebrow. "A Ritual?"

"It's something the Wizard guy mentioned in his rant," replied Waller. "It's what he calls a plan he's got that he wants everyone in the Gathering to be a part of."

"That's a rather ominous name for a group activity," Liu remarked. "Were you able to learn anything in particular about this Ritual?"

"Just one thing," said Jackie. "A keyword: revenge."

"I see." Liu rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "A task, likely supernatural in nature, that will involve a large group of people spearheaded by a man capable of taming numerous monsters with the goal of accomplishing revenge. All this confirms my initial fears of large-scale harm to this city and your hypothesis of a big disaster that will hurt many people. I suspect dozens if not hundreds will suffer. The Gathering must be stopped. If possible, I'd like your assistance."

Waller glared at Liu, eyes full of suspicion. "You're asking me for help?"

"Both of you, actually," said Liu, once again giving Jackie a meaningful look. "You both know far more about the Gathering than I do. And evidently your skills in detective work could rival that of the great Sherlock Holmes. Your aid would allow me to swiftly deal with the Gathering before any damage can be done. And you need me to deal with the Gathering as you both clearly cannot handle them on your own. What do you say?"

Jackie not only felt Liu's gaze but also Waller's. Both men didn't have to wait long for an answer, though because Jackie already made up his mind.

"Here's my answer," the young man said. And then he gave it.

<== Chapter 14.                                                                                                        Chapter 16 ==>

Special Eyes Chapter 14

"Huh?" Jackie blinked. "What did Alice just call me?"

The Wizard was just as taken aback, and he had to ask, "Come again?"

Alice reiterated her statement. "Jackie Li is our enemy."

The Wizard blinked a few times before chuckling. "Wow! Just wow! Just when I thought this conversation was going to go one way, it completely flipped over to another. Am I the only one feeling a little whiplashed here?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Alice. 

"Well," said the Wizard, "it's just that it seemed like you were going to go over to Jackie's side and against the Gathering."

"I'm only stating the truth," Alice said. "Jackie Li is kind. He wouldn't think twice about helping people like us with special eyes. But because he is kind, he will never agree with something like the Ritual. He will do everything he can to stop it, which makes him an enemy of the Gathering."

She gave Jackie a glance, who could only shake his head back in dumbfounded silence. His spirits had sunk lower than they've ever sunk before. He could not believe what he was hearing, and it hurt a lot to hear it.

The Wizard, on the other hand, was in a better mood and said, "I see. Then what do you propose we do?"

"Lock him up," said Alice. "It would be best that way. He doesn't deserve to be hurt, but we can't let him interfere with the Ritual."

"What!?" Zak cried out. "No! We should get rid of him! The dude's not one of us. And he's dangerous! Did you forget, big guy? About - ?"

The Wizard quickly cut him off. "Stop! Stop! Stop! Zip it."

He cast a wary glance at his mass of followers and then threw his Acolyte a meaningful glare. Whatever he was trying to wordlessly say to Zak, Zak got the message and bowed his head sheepishly.

"Ahem!" After straightening up, the Wizard spoke into the microphone. "Fine, then, my newest Acolyte. We will go with your idea and lock this . . . apparently nice guy away somewhere he can't do us any harm. And I promise, for you, he won't get even a scratch on his pretty little head while he's locked away."

Alice graciously dipped down in a curtsy and thanked him. "Thank you, my mentor."

Satisfied with his student's display of gratitude, the Wizard turned to address the rest of his followers. 

"I don't know about all of you guys, but I am beat after all this excitement. Anyone else feels like they need a break? You? You? Maybe you? Okay, then!"

The Wizard clapped and rubbed his hands together. 

"Why don't we call it a day and head home now, shall we? Come on. Off you go!"

Slowly, the population in the room shrank. Everyone on the floor headed towards the double doors which had been opened to let them out. The Acolytes, on the other hand, exited the way they came down the side of the stage. 

Jackie wanted to call out to Alice, but was still unable to open his mouth. All he could manage to utter were incoherent muffled screams. To his dismay, she disappeared behind the black curtain without ever looking his way. 

"As for you," the Wizard said to him, "I've got a special place ready for you.

Jackie once more writhed and wriggled, but never came close to getting loose.

"Oh, relax," the Wizard told the boy. "I promised I wouldn't hurt you and I keep my promises. But I hope you don't mind a few . . . discomforts."

Jackie did not like the sound of that.

Suddenly, the bearded man walked up to them. Something about the way he moved gave Jackie an odd sense of Deja vu, but he couldn't quite figure out why.

"I can keep an eye on him," the bearded man volunteered. 

"Really?" said the Wizard. "That'd be great!"

So with the bearded man escorting them from behind, the invisible monster carried Jackie down a set of stairs, likely the fire escape, judging by the gloomy gray all over, mixed with darker gray blotches. In addition, naked white light stung and disoriented Jackie's eyes while a high pitch, electrical humming sang in his ears.

They passed the first floor and entered the basement level where they found black boulders fitted together into an archway and led into a dark, cavernous space. It was an underground cave, or at least a space meant to simulate an underground cave. The sign with big, yellow letters hanging overhead of the arch which read, "Putts' Cavern Adventure", made it clear the cave was fake.

This place was probably some kind of arcade before the Gathering took over, Jackie reckoned from the sign.

The scarcely lit cave was a maze with many different pathways that people used to pay money to challenge. Jackie wasn't sure how many people found it fun, but he was certain lots of people thought it was tough. 

Throughout the trip through the narrow corridors, he could hear constant scratching and sliding across the walls which were likely caused by the invisible monster squeezing through. Other than that, though, it was oppressingly quiet, which Jackie could tolerate no longer.

"Sooo, Mister?"

"Mmh?" The bearded man kept his eyes forward but grunted a reply.

"My name's Jackie. What's yours?"

The bearded man didn't respond.

"What do you do for a living? I'm still in high school but I'm hoping to get into the music business. You know, be a rock star like Elvis or Michael."

Again, no answer from the bearded man.

"Can you at least tell me where you guys are taking me?"

Jackie included the monster in the conversation. 

Finally, the bearded man said, "You'll see when we get there."

Jackie frowned. But it was not because of the way the man spoke to him, but how familiar the way he spoke was. Actually, the man's voice itself was familiar. 

Where did I hear it before? Jackie wondered.

Finally, they reached a dead end where a plain steel folding chair sat. Floating on its own beside the chair was a coil of rope, likely being held by another invisible monster, one that was evidently much smaller than the big guy causing Jackie's shirt to stretch out. No need to explain what the rope was for.

After being placed down (more like dropped down, really) on the chair with a clatter and a scrape, Jackie found the rope go round and round him, pinning his arms to his sides in a tight hug. He could feel the rope jiggle as a knot was tied behind him and then it stopped.

"All done?" the bearded man asked.

There was silence and then the man jerked his head to the exit.

"Then get going," he said. "I'll keep watch."

Judging by the way the man slowly turned his head, Jackie assumed the monsters obliged. He waited a bit and then the man turned to face him.

"You really are something, you know that?" 

Jackie smiled and replied, "Good to see you too, Mr. Waller."

Waller frowned but was not surprised that Jackie saw through his disguise.

"How'd you grow a big beard like that so fast?" he asked.

Waller groaned and rolled his eyes. He didn't bother to tell the kid the beard was fake and went over behind him. With his pocketknife, the accountant cut the kid free and then roughly pulled him up. Jackie stumbled after being shoved forward, and then again when Waller brushed past him.

"Come on!" the accountant barked. "No more wise cracks! We're getting out of here."

Jackie showed his understanding with a nod and then followed the accountant out of the corridor into another one.

Waller looked right and left and then chose right. He led the way through the maze, pausing at each turn and then continuing on after making sure the coast was clear. But now and then, Jackie stopped the accountant and then pointed the other way. It visibly annoyed Waller, but he begrudgingly took Jackie's advice whenever given. Jackie, Waller recognized, was dumb in some places but smart in others. After about half an hour, they made it to the final path leading to the archway marked "Starting Point".

It might not have been the maze's intended end goal, but it was where man and boy wanted to be. 

Excited, Jackie bent down, ready to race out. But Waller quickly put a restraining hand on the boy's shoulder and shook his head. He gave Jackie an angry stare and sharply jabbed his finger down at the floor, a clear command to stay put, before heading off to the exit himself.

After stopping short of the archway, he peaked over and then slowly crept back in full retreat. 

He had spotted two monsters guarding the way out.

The big one was a giant human foot with a half-leg no less than seven feet tall and three feet wide, completely covered in white hairs. Attached to leg portion's sides was a pair of human-like arms, but shriveled up to a skeletal level and greenish yellow with fingernails stained black. 

Waller made a mental note to himself to tell the kid to burn his clothes later as soon as he saw those black stains.

As for the little one, it was a four-foot tall headless monkey covered in black fur except for its arms which looked like they belonged to a plastic baby doll. Jagged spikes trailed down its spine.

"You brought some salt with you, kid?" Waller whispered softly. "After the trouble I went to telling you those pests' weaknesses, you better have."

Jackie answered with a nod and pulled out a packed Ziploc bag.

"Good. Be ready to toss it and follow me." Waller turned but then turned back to Jackie. "And make sure that bag is opened before you toss it."

Jackie frowned, dismayed at being talked to like that. He could tolerate being looked down on, but that tolerance had its limits.

"Quietly!"

Jackie grunted. His tolerance was inching towards its threshold.

Together, they tiptoed to the archway and stopped. Waller looked Jackie in the eye and then stared pointedly at the bag of salt. And then the accountant slipped on a metal plate over his fingers. Jackie judged by the gleam in the faint light that the plate was made of silver.

Waller pointed at Jackie, then jabbed his thumb to the right. After that, he jabbed himself and pointed left. Translation: "You go right. I go left."

Jackie nodded and gave a thumb up before scooping out a handful of salt. Loose grains trickled to waste down the floor, which made Waller groan internally. He decided to spring to action quick before they all went to waste and yelled, "Now!"

Waller jumped out and swung his fist, slamming the silver plate against the trunk of the giant foot. The precious metal repulsed this creature straight out of a nightmarish avant-garde art piece and sent it flying back. From behind, the accountant could hear a shrill agonizing shriek which told him that Jackie had done his job right.

"Come on! Run!"

They hurried up a short flight of stairs to the first door marked "Exit", which Waller kicked it open. But as soon as he was out, he was then tackled to the ground by a three-foot tall toad.

"Get off me!" Waller yelled at the creature as he tried to push it off. The toad answered by sticking on and opening its mouth wide to reveal a set of stainless steel carpenter nails instead of teeth. "Okay, now that's just too much! Whatever happened to just having regular fangs?"

The toad reached up to chomp off Walker's head, but then stopped with a pained squeal as electricity danced on its back.

As soon as he saw Waller fall down, Jackie knew the accountant was in trouble. He grabbed hold of more salt and tried to dive to the rescue, but was stopped by something gripping his arm. The young man couldn't see what, but it felt cordlike. 

He was yanked on and stumbled, but then yanked back and swung his free arm at his invisible foe. The hand of that arm held the bag of salt, and the swing sent the bag's contents flying everywhere. It all spilled out, but that was okay because it shocked all the monsters and made them retreat, while at the same time create a barrier to keep them away.

With the toad weakened, Waller was able to throw it off and spring back to his feet. He grabbed Jackie and propelled him to the front door.

"Out! Out! Out!"

Jackie didn't need telling three times. His feet were already flying him towards the exit. He yanked open one of the glass doors and ran out to what he thought was empty space. But his face hit on something soft and furry, bounced off it and stumbled into Waller.

A really bad word came out of the accountant's mouth as he looked around. One look at his face was enough for Jackie to know what was going on:

They were surrounded and in a heap of trouble.  

<== Chapter 13                                                                                                           Chapter 15 ==>

A Millennial's Reflection: Banking, The Customer's Responsibility

Hey everyone.

Today, instead of a little storytelling, I wanted to bring up a topic that I've thought about for a while now and that is banks. Particularly, I wanted to talk about people and their relationship with banks. But first, let's talk about what banks do.

A bank, to most people, is a place where you can store away your money for safekeeping instead of keeping it all in your couch. You go to the bank, deposit your paycheck, put away a little bit of extra cash until next time when you need to buy a little something for that someone special. But they also provide other services for people who might need a little extra help in their finances. The most obvious service is making loans. 

Say you need to buy a house, but you don't quite have enough to afford one. Where do you turn to? The bank! Banks are probably the best place to turn to when it comes to borrowing money. They're less likely to send scary people to your doorstep demanding you pay them back.

That said, they're not about to just lend out money all willy-nilly. They need to know if you're responsible enough to pay that money back. I already talked a bit about that in my previous article about Credit, which you can read about clicking HERE.

Now that we're up to speed about banks, let's get to the main topic, the customer's responsibility.

Now, banks, like most service businesses, offers services to the people who make accounts with them. The main one, of course, is holding your money for you, the customer. That said, the money is still yours, so you got to keep an eye on that money yourself. Banks try to make it easy for you to keep track of what goes in or out of your account, but it's still on you to actually take advantage of that or make sure your checkbooks are up to date. 

You can't blame the bank for you draining your own account buying this or that. They can't tell you what to do with your money, though they will try to give you helpful advice. If you ignore that advice, that's on you. And if you overdraw your account, the bank could end up footing the bill for you. Don't expect them to do that for free. You essentially borrowed money from them, which you will need to pay them back with a little something extra for their trouble which is usually in the form of penalty fees.

And remember what I said about banks being like service businesses? Well, they're more than just service providers. They are the stewards of your money, protectors of it so to speak. And as protectors, they need to make sure when your money goes out, it goes out to the right person. And the best way to do that is by checking I.D. So anytime you go into the bank, you got to make sure to have yours, especially one that's not expired. Because if the guy or gal behind the counter don't know who you are, you can bet that there is no way they'll let you touch any of that sweet moolah you got saved up for a sick new car.

Honestly, something like bringing a valid I.D. to a bank should be common sense and you should be glad if your bank consistently asks for them. Because if they're okay giving your money away without checking who's actually taking it, then stinks to be you.

Sometimes things can suddenly happen to your bank accounts that you'd wish you had heard about sooner rather than later. And banks are more than happy to tell you ASAP. But they can only do that if they know where you live or what phone number you are using now. So, whenever you move, get a new phone number, or even change your email, it's always best to let the bank know right away. Otherwise, if any problems come up with your money, you're going to miss the chance to fix it.

And of course, banks, as a business, will charge fees for services given. Not everything they offer is free. No duh. If you ask for something, expect to pay for it. They usually have all the fees listed in a nifty little handbook that they'll give you if you ask. 

If you don't like being charged for those fees, then take advantage of promo offers, upgrade your account for more benefits if you qualify, or listen to recommendations from tellers or bankers for workarounds. Whatever you do, don't pick a fight with the worker over fees you signed an agreement to. They don't deserve it when they're just doing their job, and will be less likely to be so flexible with you.

In conclusion, while banks are the ones holding money for their customers, customers themselves are responsible for handling that money and following the rules they signed up for when they opened an account with those banks. It's pretty common-sense stuff. Check your balance and transactions regularly to make sure you don't spend more than you actually have, be sure to bring your I.D. whenever you want to take out money, and make sure the bank has the correct mailing address, phone number, etc. in case a problem comes up that needs your attention ASAP. Oh, and just pay up if you ask for something with a price tag on it.

Special Eyes Chapter 13

Just what in the world is Alice doing up on that stage? Jackie wondered. 

As if to answer his questions, the Wizard explained, "These boys and girls were just like you. Lost and alone, with no one totally to about their . . . special condition, being able to see things, creatures no one else can. But then, again, like you, they found the Gathering and answered its call. And they were inspired to join me in my mission to create a better world for all of us, for people like us, working tirelessly day in and day out to master everything that I have taught them. They all put in a hundred, TWO HUNDRED percent into their studies. And their hard work paid off, for I have recognized them as the most talented, the most exemplary, the most powerful of all my students. These seven extraordinary youths, ladies and gentlemen, have earned themselves their rightful place by my side. Please, everyone, give a round of applause to my . . . Acolytes!"

Everyone clapped. The Wizard clapped. The Acolytes clapped. Taylor and the other apparently lower-ranked members of the Gathering clapped. And the audience all clapped and cheered. Everyone, that is except for Jackie who was in denial.

There's no way, he thought. There's just no way. There's no way in Hell that Alice, his friend Alice, would join a shady group of kidnappers and work for a guy calling himself, of all things, a wizard.

But try as he might, he could not deny what he was seeing before his very eyes.

Maybe she was brainwashed. Maybe she's being blackmailed. There must be something else going on making her stand up on that stage.

These suppositions running in his head, that he was forcing himself to consider were not enough to convince himself. Because in truth, the answer was right in his face.

It was obvious to him why Alice, why any of these people around him had fallen for the Wizard's words. Every word of his had rung true.

Living in fear of monsters only she could see. Suffering contempt and ridicule by people who didn't understand her. Not fitting in with or belonging anywhere she went. Alice had gone through all of that because of her eyes. Jackie knew because he was there. Always there, but never able to successfully do anything about it, try as he might.

It was no wonder she ran away. At least here, she no longer had to be alone. Because here was someone, lots of someones who were just like her, who could see the things she saw and suffered the way she had suffered. They would understand her better than anyone. Better, even, than Jackie himself.

Aloud, he thought, "I was wrong this whole time. Alice was never in trouble. She didn't need me to come find her or rescue her. She just found the place she could feel like she belonged. Everyone here did."

There was nothing else for him to do here if Alice was with the Gathering of her own volition. All Jackie wanted for his friend was for her to have a happy life. If that is what the Gathering could give her, so be it. 

He turned his back to the stage. "I guess all that's left for me is to just leave."

Jackie took a step towards the exit. Then stopped.

"Yeah right!" 

He hadn't forgotten that the Gathering had tried to unalive him a couple of days ago, or what Zak told him about plans that Jackie felt, honestly with a little bit of bias, were not good.

"No way I'm leaving her with a bunch of shady, homicidal, monster-controlling maniacs!"

So Jackie stuck around, waiting for the perfect chance to get his friend away from that crazy Wizard who continued his speech.

"I know I said it once already, but I'll say it again: it is amazing how many new faces we have here. With this many people, we don't have to wait for the next phase anymore. We can get started on it right away."

"Next phase, huh?" Jackie muttered under his breath. "Must be about what Zak was talking about before, the big guy's plans."

"Oh!" went the Wizard. "I can see it in your eyes. Some of you are wondering what the heck I'm talking about. What is this about a next phase? Well, let me tell you.

"As I mentioned earlier, I am trying to create a better world for all of us. But in order to do that, we must first do something about the people who have hurt us. I'm talking about the people who've rejected us, who've pushed us down and insulted us just because we are different from them. I say, 'us' and 'we' because I've also been bullied for being different. I was even betrayed by people I thought were my allies, my so-called friends who joined the bullies into bullying me. And who are still, to this day, bullying me. Well, I say no more!

"So I've devised a plan. I call it, the Ritual. With the Ritual, we will get back at those bullies, to make sure they never hurt us again. But what do you think, all of you? Tell me, is it high time they all know what it's like for us?" 

There were a few scattered, "Yeah!"

"Tell me, is it high time they get a taste of their own medicine?" The Wizard's volume elevated,

"Yeah!" The number of voices grew.

 "Is it high time we have our REVENGE?"

"YEAH!"

"Then let this day be known as the start of a new age! Let us begin the age . . . OF THE WIZARD!"

Once more the audience erupted in cheers. But not everyone was cheering. Among the dozens and dozens of men and women, boys and girls, a small minority wore uneasy looks on their faces. Jackie, chief among them. 

But he had no way of knowing at the time that there were others like him in the room who had doubts that this Ritual of the Wizard's was a good thing. That there were others who noticed a lot of bad things in the Wizard's speech. Jackie was too focused on one thing: reaching Alice.

He quietly slipped through gaps between people while keeping his head ducked down low. Alice was closest to the right side of the room from Jackie's perspective, so he headed around that way. But that turned out to be a mistake, a very big one, because as soon as he pushed his head out of the crowd, he found himself face to face with Taylor. 

Taylor stared at him, and he stared at Taylor. His back broke out with nervous sweat with his heart beating so hard that he could feel it in his ears.

Calm down, Jackie, he told himself. Calm down. You're in disguise, remember? Got a baseball cap covering your hair and those really shiny mirror-like sunglasses covering your eyes. There's no way she recognizes you. Right?

Wrong. Taylor's eyes were wide with surprise at first. But slowly, those eyes shrunk into a fierce glare. Right then and there, Jackie knew that he was in trouble. He turned to run to Alice, but it was too late.

"SECURITY!"

History repeated itself. Something invisible grabbed Jackie by the back of his shirt and lifted him high into the air. He squirmed and kicked, and swung himself side to side, but nothing he did worked to free him from the monster's grasp. What was freed was the baseball cap which flew off his head and the sunglasses which slipped off his face and landed on the hard surface floor with a clatter.

Everyone was startled by Taylor's cry and turned to see what was going on. So many eyes were on Jackie that it made him feel very self-conscious. He even got a spotlight shining on him.

Sheepishly, he smiled and meekly said to the crowd, "Hi."

Naturally, the people up on stage were also looking at him. When Jackie glanced up, he saw Alice staring back at him. She was surprisingly cool-faced, as if sapped of all emotions. Zak, however, couldn't have looked more shocked to see again the guy he tried to unalive before. His jaw dropped to the floor, leaving his mouth stuck in the shape of a big O.

Jackie thought about calling out to Alice, but decided instead to hold his tongue, fearing he would compromise her safety. He reluctantly tore his gaze away from his friend and held it on the Wizard who had quickly recovered from his own surprise and regained his composure.

"Ahem! Well, well, well. Looks like we got ourselves an uninvited guest."

Keeping up a jovial attitude, the Wizard jumped straight off the stage and sauntered over to Jackie. Out of reverence, everyone shuffled back to give their top leader ample move to room. He also had a spotlight follow him until it merged with the light already on Jackie.

After a look at Jackie's left, and then at Jackie's right, the Wizard took a step back. He kept sharp eyes on Jackie as he lifted the microphone to his mouth.

"Jackie, right?" the Wizard asked. 

Jackie numbly nodded.

The Wizard flashed him a grin. "I've heard a lot about you."

Suddenly, his face was an inch from Jackie's, blue eyes locked on brown ones. Jackie could feel and smell the Wizard's breath on his nose. It was, thankfully, refreshingly minty.

"Tell me, Jackie, can you see what I can see?"

Jackie swallowed. "Depends on what you're seeing."

"How about that thing behind, the one holding you by your jacket."

Jackie craned his neck and looked back. "No."

"The thing standing behind my Acolytes?"

"No."

"I see." The Wizard finally pulled away. "I see. I see. I see. So you can't see the monsters. You don't have the same kind of eyes as us. But then that leaves us with a great big question. How did you find us?"

Before Jackie even knew what he was doing, he confessed his activities.

"I looked up pictures of the Gathering online, picked out people who were likely to go to the meeting, figured out where one of them lived and then staked out his house before following him here. I always knew invisible monsters were real and figured there'd be a few guarding the door. I acted like I could see them and tricked them into letting me inside."

There was just one thing the Wizard could say to that. "Wow."

He turned to the crowd. "Can you believe this?"

The Gathering stood motionless and quiet. He didn't wait for any answer.

"I gotta say, I'm impressed. Even though you clearly got no special powers to speak of, like at all, you managed to overcome every magical trick I could pull to hide and protect my family and get yourself smack dab in the middle of our haven. And I heard you even cost me two of my pets."

Murmurs burst and carried on.

"You see, ladies and gentlemen?" said the Wizard, causing the murmuring to stop. "This just proves how far our enemies are willing to go to find us. To hunt us down and hurt us."

Jackie instantly tried to argue back. He wanted to tell them all that the Wizard was wrong, that he wasn't out to hunt anyone down and that he certainly didn't want to hurt anyone. But the moment he tried to open his mouth, to his horror, he found his lips stuck together. 

He tried again and again to pry them open, but they would not part to let him speak. And then he saw the Wizard grinning at him and realized that the tricky villain must have done something to him. It probably happened when he got so close and personal to Jackie., likely through those vividly blue eyes of his. Worse still, the Wizard was using Jackie to further rile everyone up into joining his nefarious cause.

Jackie became all the more desperate to speak and get his side of the story to everyone, but it was no use. All his efforts garnered was an even bigger and more malicious smile on the Wizard's face. Meanwhile, the people Jackie tried to defend himself to all glared at him with eyes full of hate. It really hurt.

Although dreading to see the same thing on his friend's face, Jackie turned his gaze to her. He was relieved at first to find no change to her non-expressive face only to feel hurt seconds later by that same coldness when it crossed his mind that perhaps this was how she treated people she perceived as the enemy. 

The Wizard, noticing Jackie's gaze on one of his Acolytes, his newest Acolyte, had his biggest smile yet and he strolled back onto the stage. He stopped beside Alice and flashed another smile at Jackie, who was visibly alarmed.

"Tell me, my newest Acolyte, do you know this guy?" The Wizard held the microphone out to Alice, who nodded and answered in a soft, almost whispery voice, "I do."

"And how do you know this guy?" the Wizard asked.

"We were classmates since elementary school. We hung out together a lot."

"So you were friends," said the Wizard. He flashed Jackie another wicked grin, and then asked, "Do you still feel that way now?"

Jackie's stomach clenched. He could tell what the Wizard was trying to do and steeled his heart for the barbs that would pierce it. 

But against both his and the Wizard's expectations, Alice answered, "Yes."

The Wizard's smile instantly flipped into a frown and turned with a start. Alice, however, continued to stare ahead unabashed, without showing any feeling at all really.

"WHY," he spat sharply, "did you say, yes?"

"He was always nice to me," Alice said, eyes glued to the crowd. "He never judged me for my eyes and even tried protecting me."

Jackie felt elated.

"Though I never asked for it and frankly found it annoying."

Jackie's elation deflated.

"Still, I do not believe he will ever hurt us or ever want to. I think he would actually do everything he could to try and help us. He is simply too kind."

The crowd started murmuring again, doubts swirling in their minds, and the corners of the Wizard's mouth stretched further down. Jackie, however, couldn't help but feel touched by the things Alice said.

And then Alice turned to look straight into the Wizard's eyes and said, "But that is exactly why he is our enemy."

<== Chapter 12                                                                                                            Chapter 14 ==>