The Catalyst

Chapter 16: Pieces of the Past

Chapter 16: Pieces of the Past

Dameon sat down hard on the bed, his thoughts whirling around in a maelstrom of confusion. Phaedra was Gloria's sister. Which meant that Lukas had been her older brother, and Ray her father, and Stella...

He looked up at her. She appeared to be shouting something at Gloria and gesticulating wildly at Cyrus, who was holding his hands up defensively, but he couldn't be sure; it felt like cotton balls had been stuffed into his ears, muting the his hearing, making it sound like he was hearing voices from twenty feet underwater. Nevertheless, he could not imagine anyone less likely to be in love with Ray Anthis. Though clearly it had not lasted.

For some reason, the thought caused amusement to spark up inside him, and a kind of choked giggle escaped his lips.

A giggle. Wow. He must be really losing it. And was it really so surprising? How much more of these secrets was he supposed to take before they consumed him? How long was he supposed to keep going when no one around him was ever who he thought they were? Tenebris, his mother, his aunt, Stella, Gloria...

But then again, he was keeping an awful lot of things to himself as well.

Vaguely, through the murkiness of his musing thoughts and confused speculation, he noted that Stella's voice was now rising to even higher pitches. Soon only bats would be able to hear her. Yet there was a pressure around his head, a vice of sorts, that kept the sound muted and subdued. Not that he was complaining - it was pleasant in fact, to not have to listen to the turmoil going on around him.

It was at that precise moment that he reached this conclusion that he suddenly registered that Stella was pointing straight at him. Like a radio tentatively tuning in, the pressure around his head loosened, and her voice came into focus.

"Why the hell wouldn't you listen to him? To him and Cyrus? Why in the name of God would you run towards a rebellion when anyone with an iota of common sense would be running away? Don't you value your life at all?"

"Yeah, I do!" Gloria exclaimed, "the difference is that sometimes I value others' lives as well! Like - I don't know - my sister."

Phaedra barked a laugh, "Oh, don't make me laugh. So basically ya just wanted to save me, and ya couldn't have cared less about dad and Lukas. Filthy hypocrite."

"Look Ms. Wyse," Cyrus said, and Dameon could tell that he was trying hard to sound reasonable, "I'm sure you understand - it was the right thing to do. Gloria couldn't just leave her family to die - I mean, besides being a morally corrupt decision, it would - "

Stella turned to Cyrus menacingly. "Are you calling me morally corrupt?"

Cyrus suddenly appeared to be trying to make himself as small as possible - a difficult task considering his muscular bulk. "No, I'm sorry, I was just trying to -"

"Yes, of course that's what he's saying!" Gloria interjected. She grasped her mother's shoulder and wheeled her around so that they were practically nose to nose, "What the hell has happened to you? What happened to my mother who worked her butt off to make sure that she had a home and a small fortune to support her kids - all of her kids - when they tested into Lapillus?"

"She knew Lukas wouldn't test into Lapillus," Phaedra muttered mutinously, "She was just worried about you and me."

Something about the statement struck Dameon as odd; something tugging at him. But he shook it away, transfixed by the argument.

"What happened," Gloria continued, ignoring Phaedra, "to the woman who spent weeks tracking her kids and their dad down from all the way across the country, just so she could beg to have them back? Where is the mom who literally smuggled me out of the slums in the dead of night even though she knew that she could get arrested for it?"