4.2 A Memorial To Remember

My rowdy cousins, sons of Aunt Jemma, had a favorite expression—shriveling balls. They kept saying those stupid words when we rode a roller coaster. I had no idea how that’d feel like given I had no such body parts, but I could guess.

I bet the sensation fit the situation. Hey, it rhymed.

“The-there’s another Adumbrae?” I spoke in a scared voice. It was easy to make my soft voice quiver. This was the appropriate reaction, right? Better ham it up instead of being nonchalant. “Oh my god… Where—? Hang on, why isn’t this on the news? We shouldn’t have gatherings like this if there’s an Adumbrae on the loose!”

Tower Cop sighed so long he must’ve expelled all the air in his body. A mountain of stress backed up that exhale. “It’s not confirmed. A mere theory. My theory not shared by my superiors.”

Hearing that made me relax a bit, though adrenaline still pumped through my system. Stressful. Fun. Stuff like this happened only to the main character. But it was unsettling that he popped this shit out of the blue. If it was a random theory, why tell me? Did he suspect me and was gauging my reaction?

I should carefully choose my next words. It should be a question. “Why do you think there’s another Adumbrae?”

“Uncle,” Ramello said. “It’s probably not appropriate for you to discuss—”

“A call to nine-one-one during the attack,” Tower Cop said, “mentioned a female individual fighting an Adumbrae. Not fighting and dying. Fighting. Punching it away. Caller died. Couldn’t question her. Other potential witnesses in the same subway car also perished.”

“Someone with superstrength?” I asked, nodding intently. This wasn’t me. I didn’t fight an Adumbrae on the train. This might be another Adumbrae. “I bet that’s a Corebring,” I said. “They’re not allowed in the country, but—”

“That wouldn’t stop them from coming over if they want to,” Ramello said. “We discussed it in International Law class a couple of days ago.”

“An undercover Corebring…” said Tower Cop, still looking at me. “…is a slim possibility. Would mean the Hive is aware of the Adumbrae attack prior. Would also mean they knew the Adumbrae’s identity; this supposed Corebring was in the same subway car. If so, why didn’t the Hive alert the BID? Why not kill the Adumbrae in a less populated location? Likelier, this is a fourth Adumbrae. We already have three.”

“The-there’s really an A-adumbrae wandering the city?” I stammered.

“Uncle, you’re scaring Erind,” Ramello said. “I’m sure it was nothing. The caller was terrified—I would be, too. She thought she saw someone punch away an Adumbrae. A very stressful situation. I mean, is there any other proof of this fourth Adumbrae?”

“Other proof… none,” Tower Cop replied. Those few seconds of delay were suspicious. He had paused to think whether to reveal more. It still didn’t answer why he revealed it in the first place. “Possible that I’m wrong. But if I’m right, this fourth Adumbrae should be found quickly. Prudence saves lives.”

“Yep, we’ll keep that in mind.” Ramello gave me an apologetic glance.

Tower Cop pointed at me. “Ms. Hartwell… If you recall witnessing anything suspicious, anything at all, report it immediately. It may save lives.”

I wordlessly nodded, flicking my eyes at Ramello.

“We’ll get moving now, uncle. Uh, we’re meeting with our other classmates. Yep, that’s it.”

“Go ahead,” Tower Cop replied. Then he looked me in the eye. “If I locate the footage where I found you, Ms. Hartwell, you wouldn’t mind answering a few questions?”

“Uncle, what the hell?” Ramello hissed. “She already said she didn’t see anything.”

“I don’t mind,” I said, as innocently as I could. Was that a freaking threat? What was up with Tower Cop? “But I don’t think I can help much with whatever.”

“Let’s go, Erind,” Ramello said, holding my shoulder and herding me away from Tower Cop.

I was too preoccupied with what had just happened that I immediately didn’t react to Ramello’s touch.

After walking a few feet away, Ramello said, “I’m really sorry about that, Erind. Uncle is usually not like that. Just silent and brooding. That was ten times more words than I expected out of him.”

“He’s… scary. A bit.”

“I get that. He shouldn’t have told you about his theory on a fourth Adumbrae. I don’t know why he did that. He’d be in trouble with the higher-ups if they knew what he did. But no need to be scared of him. He’s a straight cop, through and through. He’s won plenty of awards and put away several high-profile criminals. Though sometimes, he can be too focused on a case that he… well… I’m sure he saw your face in a CCTV footage and misremembered where you were.”

“That should be it,” I said, nodding.

Where could Tower Cop have seen me? The subway stairs had a security cam. The train platform, too. Did the train itself have a cam? Possibly.

I didn’t want to say I was on the train itself because that’d lead to a lot of questions. That footage would immediately expose my lie. But it was easy to explain away—I was so traumatized by the experience that my brain blotted out memories. Nothing to it.

Unless… the cameras caught me doing something suspicious.

What about that stairwell? A video showing me super injured back then, and now, I was quite fine, would make one think I was an Adumbrae. Did the building I fled into have a camera? Where else?

“Ramello, how good is your uncle’s memory?” I asked. “Honestly, I’m scared of getting questioned by the police. Not that I’m guilty of anything.” I sprinkled in cutesy nervous laughter. “It’s like when people are scared of the hospital. I have an aunt whose blood pressure would always shoot up whenever she’s in a hospital or clinic, so they could never get an accurate reading.” Adding a specific story increased authenticity.

“He’s pretty good at remembering faces,” Ramello replied. “Oh, but uncle isn’t infallible. He makes mistakes on occasion. If there’s one thing we can certainly fault him, it’s that his memory is so good that he can’t accept that he’s wrong. Sometimes, he is.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Dammit. Tower Cop really had seen me.

Passing by a patrol car, I realized the most dangerous videos where I was included—the police car dashcams.

The dashcam of the female cop’s car should’ve captured me hobbling, super bleeding and stuff, away from Baggy Overalls. And the dashcam of the other cop cars that arrived later would’ve recorded me running away from Fidgeting Hoodie with the female cop’s corpse in its mouth. The first video was the more damning one because I didn’t hide my face there.

Not sure if Tower Cop saw that footage, but he must’ve seen me in a suspicious video. Why else did I stick to his memory? He revealed his theory about a fourth Adumbrae to check my reaction and to recall where he had seen me. He didn’t care about causing panic because he must’ve thought there was something suspicious about me.

Should I kill Ramello’s uncle? Add one more to my list of victims. This one was important for my survival. Tower Cop mentioned his superiors didn’t believe his theory about a fourth Adumbrae. This whole mess was just isolated to him. If I took him out, that should be the end of it. The police chief’s priority was minimizing the liability of the city, not hunting for another Adumbrae with barely any proof.

“Don’t think much about it, Erind,” Ramello said. “I don’t even know why he mentioned a fourth Adumbrae to you. Oh, hang on. I’m guessing Uncle was just messing around with you and me.”

“Messing around? Why would he do that?”

“I talked to him about this girl in class. Maybe he thinks I like this girl. As an uncle, he’s legally obligated to ruin my chances with this girl. It wasn’t apparent because he doesn’t have a fiber of humor in his body.”

So, why would Tower Cop mess with us if he doesn’t joke around? Inconsistencies. I grinned at Ramello. This bastard could be my downfall, introducing me to a cop who might catch me. But Ramello would also help me figure out what incriminating stuff Tower Cop had on me. “So… do you like this girl?”

Ramello shrugged, not meeting my gaze. “She’s a very likable girl; that much, I can say. Anyway, forget about my uncle. He didn’t mean calling you in for questioning. He has plenty on his plate that he won’t—”

“Erind!” Deen parted the crowd with her beauty powers. “I managed to get away from my sister.” She looked over Ramello. “What’s this? Trading your bestie for a guy? I expected better of you, Ms. Hartwell. You should focus on your studies instead of thinking about romance.”

“Whatever, Deen,” I said, rolling my eyes. Good line from Deen, highlighting Ramello’s attraction to me. I needed Ramello to get attached to me. “I can say the same thing about you and Adrian.” Not denying the ‘romance’ part should flatter Ramello.

“Oh? Don’t switch things on me.” Deen linked our arms. She said to Ramello, “I’m just going to reclaim my bestie here. You won’t mind, right?”

“Of course, not,” Ramello said. “Besties over seatmates—that’s what you told me. You girls enjoy yourself. Wait. That’s the wrong thing to say at a memorial service. Just enjoy each other’s company while I’ll be back to my lonesome.”

I thought Deen was going to tease me about Ramello, but she didn’t. She also didn’t rant about her sister, pretending that her sister didn’t pull her away from me. She just shared about socialite affairs she overheard while at the more-important-people tent.

“The Minnows family was also there,” Deen said. “The mayor has a lovely niece about our age, Vanessa. You should meet her someday. There were rumors that she had a terminal illness; I hadn’t seen her at parties for ages. I’m glad that those rumors turned out to be false because she looked healthy. But get this, they say that her uncle—not the mayor; a different uncle—has a mistress. Have you seen that celebrity chef…”

And it was time to tune out Deen again. I retreated into my mind, pondering another problematic thing that Ramello’s uncle mentioned—the missing fourth Adumbrae.

That wasn’t me. I was still very much human inside the train, and I didn’t punch anyone.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there were another or many more Adumbrae lurking around the city. Three appearing in the same place at the same time was very unlikely. But having a fourth one was plausible. This interested me because the fourth Adumbrae didn’t transform. Did he know a way to stop or delay it? Was this guy connected to the alleged terrorists who orchestrated the attack? I hadn’t forgotten about what I’d heard from Marsh Row about the kidnappings.

Deen and I didn’t stay long at the park. Around an hour before the program was to wrap up, we made our way to her car. We didn’t want to get stuck when everyone else would leave.

We passed by the PCM protesters that Tower Cop and his cop buddies talked about. Around a hundred protesters carrying placards were blocked by police officers outside Grand Griffin Park. We went another way to avoid the commotion.

“Can’t everyone unite in this time of mourning?” Deen said.

“I think they’re protesting against the mayor,” I said. “Very valid. They’re also accusing the mayor of being an Adumbrae. That’s… too much. If they weren’t so extreme, the PCM could get a lot more members.”

When we got inside Deen’s car, she asked me, “Where to? An hour or so before lunch. Want to go to a salon? You can have your hair dyed. I see more graying strands.”

I checked the rearview mirror. They were back. “I heard that dying hair can cause more whites to show up.”

No salons for me. Deen might wrangle me into getting a haircut, and that’d be bad news. Adumbrae regeneration was a weird thing. If I cut my nails, they wouldn’t grow back. But when I pounded my finger with a knife’s handle—it hurt, but I had to do it for an experiment—the broken nail repaired itself along with my finger. Pulling out hair strands made them grow back. Cutting my hair with scissors didn’t trigger a regeneration.

After some research, I found that Adumbrae’s regeneration was more of a construction of a person’s image. Cutting hair was part of a person’s image. I didn’t search deeper because I realized my search history would look suspicious.

“If not the salon, then where?” Deen asked.

“I think I’m just going to study at my condo.”

“We can study together. I have my books here. I’ve never been to a friend’s place before. Mother didn’t allow me to attend sleepovers as a kid.”

She’s just inviting herself over? My room was my sanctuary. No one else allowed to enter. “We can study at a café. There’s one near my condo.” I couldn’t reject her offer to study without seeming to avoid her. “You can park in the building’s parking area—I have a slot there even though I don’t have a car. It comes with the unit. I’ll just quickly grab my things and we’ll be on our way.”

Our drive back to my condo was quite smooth because the streets were mostly empty. I was trying to think of how to make Deen stay behind while I went up to my room.

“Deen, my room’s an absolute mess,” I said as I got out of the car after Deen parked it. “I’m super embarrassed to let you see it.”

“I’ll help you clean up.” She stood on the other side of the car. “It’ll be a fun project.”

“It’s really, really dirty, okay? Unwashed dishes, litter everywhere.” Wait, why am I painting myself a pig? My room was pretty clean. “And I don’t want to…”

“Erind?”

A black SUV was approaching. It was moving too slowly, as if people inside were interested in us. Where was the CCTV camera? There. That should record if anything bad happened. I also couldn’t reveal I was an Adumbrae.

Was I misremembering things, or should that camera have a blinking green light?

The SUV stopped right behind Deen’s car, boxing us in the parking slot.

Trouble.

I didn’t react just yet. I’d let this play out to know what this was about.

The SUV’s heavily tinted windows lowered, and one hand from each window appeared carrying a gun. Fhwip, fhwip. I looked down at the tubular ends of darts hanging from my shirt; their pointy ends couldn’t stab my skin. Some of them were about to fall off. I immediately collapsed so our assailants wouldn’t see that I didn’t get hit. I plucked off a couple of the darts and pocketed them as I curled up on the ground.

It took Deen a few seconds to faint. She screamed for help as men threw her in the SUV. I cheered in my head when they took me as well. For a moment, I was worried I’d get left behind.

I never enjoyed field trips, but I had a feeling this was going to be fun.