The League

Chapter 6 - Four, Not Two

Phoenix tried not to look at the clock again. It would still say three-fifteen, like it had for the last eight times he checked, or maybe it had finally changed to three-sixteen. Either way, it was way too early in the morning for this.

A few days had passed since the exchange, and here he was, sitting in a meeting room at headquarters. Kate stood in the corner with her back to him, quietly talking to someone on the phone. She'd called him here without telling him why. He assumed it was to finalize his entry into the database, so he'd dragged himself out of bed and onto an empty train. He'd been sitting in this chair and fighting off sleep for the past twenty minutes, and if she kept him waiting any longer, he would lose the battle.

Kate finally ended her call and turned around. She was holding a folder, her grasp on it delicate. "Sorry for the wait," she said. "My wife was reminding me to get milk and lettuce on my way home."

He smiled. "Grocery shopping at three in the morning?"

"What can I say?" She laughed. "We're night owls."

He believed her: she sounded energized, her eyes clear and alert, while he was bleary-eyed and pretty sure he'd put on two different shoes. He was also missing a sock.

Kate sat in the chair across from him. "I'm sorry for calling you in so early, too. I'm off to Europe in a few hours, so this is the only time I have."

"That's alright." He held back a yawn. "But why did you need to see me?"

Kate quickly flipped through the contents of the folder before closing it and looking at him. "It's customary to do background checks when entering someone into the database," she replied, "so we can validate claims and collect official documents."

"And?"

"We found something that contradicts what you said."

Phoenix sat up straight. "I didn't lie, about anything."

"That's just it. I don't think you lied, which makes this more confusing." Kate held out the folder. "Take a look and tell me what's going on."

Phoenix took it, not too worried. It was likely something small: a misspelling, a date error. It didn't have to be anything big to cause a contradiction in the system.

He opened the folder and slid the paper clip off a thin stack of pages. The first was a copy of Alexa's birth certificate, and he looked for a mistake. Alexa May Anderson. According to this, she would be twenty-two years old if she were alive today. Next was her death certificate. Age at time of death: 21. Cause of death: injuries sustained in a vehicle crash. He felt a pang of sadness, but everything was correct.

Phoenix glanced up. Kate sat there silently, arms crossed over her chest. There was something disconcerting about the way she watched him, like she was bracing herself for an explosion.

The next paper was his birth certificate. Phoenix Anderson. He was the only one in the family without a middle name. According to this, he'd just turned nineteen in June. All correct.

"Everything's fine," he said with a shrug.

There were two more papers. He expected something like his parents' will, maybe an official form of enrollment in his university, but it was neither of those things, and it was nothing he ever would have expected. The fourth paper was another birth certificate. Jack August Anderson. He slid it aside to read the one beneath it. Eleanor Kelsey Anderson.

Phoenix stared at the unfamiliar names. "Who are—"

Then he noticed the two signatures scribbled on the bottom of both certificates. He picked them up to get a closer look, even though he had recognized them immediately. The signatures were his parents'.