Hey Readers! If you haven’t already, be sure to check out other posts here to read previous chapters of The House On Astor Street. Enjoy!
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Mezmora is an extension of yourself.” Sam paced around the large empty classroom. He had pushed all the desks neatly against the back wall with another amazing display of his skill and left one for Jason to sit in in the center of the room. “The energy creates itself deep within your core and is typically influenced by one’s emotions. Fear, excitement, happiness, despair…” he stopped pacing and looked over at Jason, “…love. All emotions can affect the strength and manifestation of mezmora, but it’s the control one has over the energy that lends to its true power.” Sam put his hands in his pockets and, rocking on his feet, added nonchalantly, “Once you master control over your emotions, using mezmora is actually pretty easy.”
Jason thought back to his recent experience on the train with the Devitor, “How do you tell it what to do?”
Sam laughed lightly, “With your mind.” He pulled his hands out of his pockets again and gestured towards his torso. “Mezmora, as I mentioned, is created when it’s called forth here, in your core. The strength of the skill is influenced by your emotions.” He moved his hands up and towards his head, then towards his chest where he cupped his hands over his heart. “Once the mezmora has materialized inside of you, you can either quash it, or you can expel it in any number of ways. You simply need to direct it. Think of it like your arms.” He waved his arms around wildly. “You don’t have to tell your arms what to do, you simply do it.”
Jason considered his interaction the other day with Matilda in his mother’s study. He didn’t know how he made the mezmora go into the vile, he just did it. “I guess I am just having a problem understanding the whole ‘manifestation’ part? I mean, how do you turn it on?”
Sam looked at Jason for a second and finally said, “How about I show you?” Sam walked up to the desk Jason was sitting at in the center of the room, steps echoing off the tall walls and linoleum tile floor. “Not all students, after all, are the same. Some prefer auditory lecture, while others prefer getting their hands a little dirty.” Sam pulled a small tangerine out of his bag that was sitting on the floor next to the desk and set it directly in front of Jason. “Now, I want you to lift the tangerine off the table, raise it to here,” he placed his hand about two feet up above the desktop, “and gently place it back down on the table. And, of course, no using your hands.”
Jason looked from the tangerine to Sam’s hand hovering in front of him. He gulped hard and fixed his gaze on the tangerine. His breath deepened and he felt a small fire ignite inside him. Sam studied Jason’s face from above and could detect the mezmora awakening inside him.
“That’s it, Jason. Make it grow inside you. Tell it what you want it to do.”
Jason gritted his teeth as if creating artificial pressure would feed the warmth in his core. A few more moments passed when Jason felt a tangible energy within him. He gulped again and lifted his right hand, stretching out his fingers with exaggerated anticipation. Slowly, a thin, electric green ribbon crept outward from his palm towards the tangerine in front of him.
“Concentrate, Jason. Command the energy.”
The strand of light slid under the tangerine, cupping it, and slowly began to raise it off the desktop. Sam watched as the thin ribbon continued flowing from Jason’s palm to the tangerine, steadily, expertly. The tangerine pushed gently up against Sam’s hand. “Excellent, Jason! Now, bring the tangerine back down to the desk and release it.”
Instead, Jason stood. He could feel the roiling warmth inside him and felt the ebb and flow of the energy moving to his will. He looked up at Sam, his mezmora still holding the tangerine against his outstretched hand. Sam looked back at Jason, who had produced a sly smile, curiously. Sam moved his hand away slowly and took a couple steps backwards, watching Jason intently, but with an excited interest. Jason could feel the tangerine as if it were in his own hand. The cool, smooth skin of the fruit. The delicateness of the flesh inside. He lifted the tangerine further into the air with the green strand streaming from his palm.
Suddenly, Jason spun on his feet, facing the back of the room where the desks were situated against the wall. He swung his arm over his head, the ribbon of green whipping the tangerine towards the back wall before the green strand severed itself from Jason’s palm. The tangerine dove down towards the floor, still consumed by a short, comet-like strand of the green mezmora Jason had produced. Sam’s jaw dropped as he noticed that Jason still had complete control over the now disembodied mezmora. He continued to stare in amazement as the tangerine careened under, around, and over the obstacle course of desks, leaving a spectacularly green dust trail that slowly evaporated like glitter in the air.
Jason turned back towards the front of the room and noticed the excited look in Sam’s eyes. He sent the tangerine in manic spirals around Sam, who laughed giddily from behind the corkscrew of luminescent green dust. Next, Jason sent the tangerine up towards the ceiling before holding it in the air above both Sam and himself. Jason met Sam’s bewildered eyes and, with a wave of his arm, brought the tangerine down towards the ground between them. Like a spectacular missile, the tangerine hit the ground and exploded into an electrical green ball of dust. They stared at the ground as the plume rippled outwards along the classroom floor, whipping around their feet before slowly evaporating into nothingness.
Silence lingered between them before being interrupted by Sam’s celebratory clapping. “The others weren’t kidding…you’ve got some incredible talent! Most people I’ve worked with take weeks to make the tangerine touch my hand, let alone flying it around the room! And disembodied control… that was incredible! There are people my age that still can’t master guiding a paperclip across the room with unconnected mezmora.” Sam laughed to himself and added, “That was simply amazing, Jason.”
“I just listened to what you said. To think of it as an extension of myself.” Jason paused as he searched for words. “I could feel the tangerine as if it were in my own hand. It was… surreal.”
“Well, you’ve certainly got the strength of your father and the skill… and flair… of your mother.” Sam laughed. “I do think, though, that we need to consider starting on some more advanced studies.”
Over the remaining full day courses Jason had with Sam before having to return to work, he learned such an astonishing amount about the history of the Altruites and Domenicians, that he could feel his perception of the world he knew slowly fading away. He learned that there were more people like him. People that got a taste of this new world and decided to revert back to their normal way of life. Others, like Mr. Troddleton, who pledged an allegiance to a particular faction, but took no official part in the politics of the impending prophecy. There were others still, who had experienced some situations they couldn’t quite explain, but simply brushed it off because the idea of “magic” or “powers” was too impossible.
Jason was taught a variety of skills over those long days with Sam. He was taught detection skills, tracking skills, and simple, yet useful skills. He was taught about skills of legend, some that had never been seen, but mentioned in children’s stories of days gone by. Sam told him about some of the forbidden skills. Forbidden for the potential destructive effects they could have. And Sam told him about some of the most powerful skills, known to the world, but so rarely used because of their difficulty that few had ever seen them in practice.
On his last full day with Sam, Jason learned how to construct a flash tunnel. Sam assumed that the commute from the Loop, where Jason’s office was, up to Northwestern University would cost them precious time that they couldn’t afford to lose for their ongoing evening sessions. After a detailed explanation and demonstration that involved intense concentration and a long, sustained release of mezmora, Sam thought Jason was prepared to give it a shot. “Don’t worry if it doesn’t work the first time. We can always construct it next week.”
Jason walked up to the employee closet in the observatory’s basement. The same one he had used for the past two weeks. He opened the door and stared into the cluttered closet. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he removed all thoughts and images from his mind. Once his mind was clear, he pictured the janitorial room right outside of his office lobby in his head. He concentrated on the janitorial closet door, its dimensions, its location, and its colors, until he felt like he could almost reach out and touch it. He felt a heat develop in his core and, with his eyes closed, he brought both of his hands up, his palms facing the open closet. His palms lit up as a thick beam of electric green shot into the closet in front of him. Minutes went by while a constant surge of mezmora flowed into the closet. Slowly, the janitorial door in his mind’s eye lit up with a bold green glow, then disappeared, leaving fragments of light dancing on his eyelids.
He opened his eyes and looked into the open employee closet at the observatory. He turned to face Sam and said, “Well, here goes nothing.” Sam laughed and waved. Jason marched resolutely into the closet and shut the door. Standing in the dark, he took one deep breath, turned the handle and pulled the door open. The florescent lights of the elevator lobby cast a long shadow down the dimly lit hall leading to his office’s front door. Jason smiled triumphantly as he leaned back into the janitorial closet, his thoughts consumed by the frozen pizza waiting for him at home.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Jason quietly shut Mr. Troddleton’s door and wandered over to the mail room. He grabbed his mail and walked up the stairs, his feet stomping heavily on each step. He was exhausted. His new schedule of work all day, followed by lessons with Sam all night was beginning to wear on him. Work had become increasingly busy as they approached the end of the third quarter, and Sam was really testing Jason’s limits with his skills. Even with the flash tunnels cutting out his commute altogether, Jason hardly had any time to relax outside of sleep.
As he approached the top of the stairs, Ryan creaked the door open and called Jason over with a loud whisper. With everything going on, Jason hadn’t had a chance to properly catch up with Ryan or Michael at all over the last several weeks and, given the unbelievable and inexplicable developments in his life, he’d avoided having a long conversation with his neighbors at all costs. “Excuse me, mister, but when were you going to tell me about that cute little girlfriend of yours?”
Jason was confused. “Girlfriend?”
Ryan put his hand on his hip and said with raised eyebrows, “Umm, yes. The pretty brunette sitting out on the balcony right now.”
“Emma is here?”
“Ha! You admit it!” Ryan looked perturbed. “But honestly, I’m mad at you for not telling me.”
“Ry, let him go…” Michael called from inside, “the guy hasn’t even gotten home yet.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Fine, balcony, five minutes. See you lovebirds out there.” He laughed quietly as he shut the door.
Jason fumbled for his keys. He was concerned why Emma would show up unannounced. He didn’t have any texts or missed calls from her and Sam hadn’t said anything when he left just ten minutes prior. He swung the door open and threw his stuff on the couch. He could see through the blinds Emma sitting on the porch and marched out to the balcony.
“Emma, is everything ok?”
Emma was sitting with her head back and eyes closed. She was smiling subtly as she pet the mass of fur in her lap. Patriot. Her eyes opened at the sound of the sliding door opening out onto the balcony, “Hey Jason! Yeah, I’m good.” She sat up straighter in the chair, taking care not to disturb the softly purring cat in her lap. “How was training tonight?”
Jason looked around to make sure Ryan and Michael weren’t within earshot, “It was fine…” he looked at the window to make sure it was closed, “look, I haven’t exactly told my neighbors about… everything.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
“No, no, it’s fine.” Jason laughed to ease the awkwardness. “So, what brings you out to Lincoln Park tonight?”
“Ah well, you know, the…” Emma looked around this time to make sure they were alone, “…the group is at my parent’s house tonight discussing some recent developments from their trips abroad.” She was using air quotes to emphasize the ulterior meaning to her words. “And anyway, just wanted to see how trai… er… work has been going! Word is that you’re a quick study.”
Just then, the sliding glass door on the far end of the balcony opened and Ryan walked out followed by Pepper and, eventually, Michael. They grabbed chairs and brought them closer to Jason and Emma. Ryan plopped into his seat and asked, “So, Jason, who might this beautiful woman be?”
Jason laughed anxiously. He didn’t know why, Emma wasn’t his girlfriend, there was nothing to be nervous about. They had barely known each other three weeks at this point, yet Ryan’s question sent Jason’s nerves into a flurry. “Oh, yeah, Emma, this is Ryan and Michael. They’ve been my neighbors here for a couple years now.”
Ryan got up and hugged Emma, “We hug here! It is so nice to meet you!” He looked over at Jason and added, “I can’t believe this is the first time we are hearing about you.”
Michael rolled his eyes and gave Emma a quick, welcoming hug, “It’s nice to meet you, Emma.”
“Would you all mind if I ran inside real quickly and got out of these work clothes?” His question was more directed at Emma than Ryan or Michael. “It’s been a long week…”
Emma, recognizing the cue, chimed in, “Sure! Take your time.”
Jason walked inside and began changing into gym shorts and a tank top. It was a warm night and the situation out on the balcony was making him perspire with anticipation. He could feel a small ball of heat whirling in his core, which he was able to control due to a recent lesson on mezmoratic energy mastering from Sam. He grabbed a back of chips and a couple bottles of water and headed back outside, nervous about what Emma might have said or, worse, what Ryan might have asked.
Much to his relief, the three on the balcony were going on about road trips they had taken growing up in the Midwest. The resorts at The Dells up in Wisconsin, camping out in the woods in Michigan, visiting “some of the best barbeque in the world” down in Kentucky. The night droned on while the four of them swapped Disney World memories and senior trips to Europe stories when a loud bang, followed by the sound of shattering dishes rang out from the apartment below them.
Emma sat up, alert and full of fear, “Mr. Troddleton!”
Ryan and Michael looked at each other, before Ryan asked, “That old man downstairs?”
Before anyone had a chance to answer, flashes of light shot out from the windows in the apartment below, blowing glass out into their building’s shared backyard. Patriot and Pepper leapt up and ran towards the sliding door. Michael got up and followed them, confused by the unfolding situation. “Should I go run downstairs and check on the neighbor, or…?”
Jason shouted back, unexpectedly, “No!” He gulped. “Sorry, no, it’s ok. I’ll go check.”
Just then, another loud bang sounded through the smashed window downstairs that shook the whole building. Emma got up and looked alarmedly at Jason, “I’m going with you.”
“No, Emma, please.” Jason put his hand on Emma’s shoulder while he looked directly in her eyes. “Stay here with Ryan and Michael.” Jason’s face was serious and had a look of panic in it.
He ran inside the building through his apartment’s balcony doors, and the cats ran in with him. He sprinted through his apartment and threw his front door open. The lights in the second-floor landing’s hallway were off. Light from the streetlamps out front crawled up the stairs menacingly through the square windowpanes on the building’s front door. Jason walked down the stairs slowly and quietly, trying to hone the detection skills Sam had been teaching him over the past couple weeks. He could feel a heat steadily building inside him. He let it fester and pushed it deeper inside himself, storing it for any potential need.
He took another step down and could faintly hear the voice of Bette Davis pouring out of the television. Out of nowhere, it hit his senses. Jason could feel the presence of Devitors. His breath quickened as sweat began accumulating on his forehead. He closed his eyes tightly for a second, harkening back to Sam’s instruction. He couldn’t allow his emotions to cloud his next movements. He opened his eyes and quickly ran down the few remaining stairs. On the floor around the corner, Jason could see the outline of a figure dressed in all black. It wasn’t moving.
Jason walked further towards Mr. Troddleton’s apartment door, which was open, exposing his well-lit living room. Suddenly, two figures rushed past his feet and into Mr. Troddleton’s apartment. Jason jumped, but immediately regained his composure and continued moving forward. He saw another black figure lying on the floor, unmoving, behind the couch. He stepped into the apartment and saw Mr. Troddleton standing in the middle of the living room, his finger to his mouth, motioning for Jason to be quiet.
“There are at least two more.” He whispered. “The cats are taking care of one in the kitchen, but I lost track of the other.”
Jason nodded in acknowledgement then, together, they slowly walked through Mr. Troddleton’s apartment. As they passed the kitchen, Jason could see the three cats lined up in a row, staring at the Devitor in the center of the kitchen. It was sitting on the old linoleum floor, its knees pulled up to its chest, bobbing back and forth. It appeared to be completely unaware of where it was or of anything’s existence around it. “Confusion and terror. These cats are pretty powerful creatures. Especially when they team up like that.” Mr. Troddleton whispered.
As they approached the back bedroom, they heard a noise back in the living room. They looked at each other and then ran back towards the front of the apartment. When they arrived, they saw Ryan and Michael walking in, with Emma coming up behind them.
“What’s happening?” Ryan looked around, alarmed by the ransacked apartment. “Oh my god!” he screamed, “What is that?” He saw the figure lying on the floor behind the couch and grabbed Michael’s hand.
Mr. Troddleton tried shushing them, but he was too late. Emma let out an agonizing scream and collapsed to the floor. Behind her was an outstretched hand and, behind that, a figure dressed in all black. Ryan and Michael screamed reflexively and ran inside, ducking behind the dining room table.
Jason’s mind immediately went blank and his face turned expressionless. He marched forward several steps towards the figure. He stopped feet from Emma lying on the floor and raised both hands out in front of him. A fire churned in his core and raced up his spine, over the edge of his shoulders and down through his arms. A magnificent green rope shot out of both his palms with such speed and force that it knocked the devitor off its feet. Before the devitor even hit the ground, the ropes wrapped around it and held it in the air. Its hands and legs were bound and it was struggling to break free.
After a couple seconds, Jason flung the figure backwards against the wall behind him. Then he threw the creature into the ceiling, shaking the building, before bringing the creature down to the floor with such force that the ground cracked under its body. It lay motionless in a bundled heap on the floor, green florescent dust floating down gently before evaporating around the entrance hallway.
Jason ran over to Emma who was groaning listlessly on the ground. Michael and Ryan emerged from their hiding place, delirious and in a state of shock. Mr. Troddleton walked over, looking exhausted, but relieved. He crouched down next to Jason and gently patted Emma’s head. He looked over at Jason and said, “You need to get her to her parent’s house.” He looked up at Michael and Ryan, then back at Jason, “Them too.”
Jason didn’t have the energy to debate Mr. Troddleton, so he simply stood and asked, “Are you coming too?”
“I’m got some cleaning up to do.” He looked down the hall towards the kitchen where the devitor was trapped by the cats. “But I’ll meet you there soon.”
Without thinking, he gave Mr. Troddleton a hug, catching him off guard. “Thank you.”
Jason directed Ryan and Michael to help get Emma towards the closet in Mr. Troddleton’s apartment. They were confused, but still too stupefied to ask any questions. He guided them towards the closet and opened the door, telling them to pack in. With that, Ryan asked weakly, “What are we doing?”
Jason walked into the closet behind them and said, “We are going to Astor Street.” Then shut the door.
