The Volunteer
“Hey, thanks for coming.”
I opened my door to Whisper smiling in greeting. He was holding a white plastic bag—I would recognize that bag anywhere even though there was no logo. I gasped.
“How did you know?”
“Av left me very thorough instructions. Including how many soya sauce packets to grab. He was insistent it had to be exactly nine packets, no more no less.” He laughed. “I think he might be obsessed with you.”
“A little, yeah.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised Austin knew about all of my weird little quirks. It still made me smile and blush like an idiot that he noticed how many packets I grabbed from my favourite sushi place.
“Make yourself at home.” I waved him to the table while I headed to the kitchen. “Do you want chopsticks?”
“You have chopsticks?” He laughed over the rustling of the bag and plastic take out containers.
“Duh. Yes or no?”
“Sure, why not.”
I grabbed two soya sauce dishes, two plates, and two sets of chopsticks. He eyed the matching black set with an eyebrow raised.
“What?”
“Nothing. You’re just full of surprises. Shall we get started?”
We talked over dinner. I didn’t know much about Whisp. In fact, I was surprised to find out he knew my mum. He was interning at city hall every summer as part of his degree. Mum was his boss.
“Wait, can I— Sorry, you can tell me to get lost if I’m over stepping, but are you by any chance Dominic Archer?”
“And I had done such a good job of keeping my identity a secret. At your service.” He mock bowed. “How did you know?”
“Mum talked about you all the time. Oh, honey, did I tell you Dom got his marks back for his final exam? He got 95%, he’s such a smart boy.
Or: Dom brought in lunch for the whole office, isn’t that so sweet?
And my personal favourite: You should come by and visit your poor mother some time.
I can introduce you to Dom. He’s a good boy, you know, and you’re not getting any younger. ”
He laughed harder with each quote.
“Oh man, I had no idea. I mean, she talked about you all the time. She was always hyping you up, but she hyped you up to everyone. She loved the hell out of you.” He gave me a sad smile. “I wish she’d tried harder to set us up, though,” he teased.
I laughed, grateful he was steering the conversation back to lighthearted territory.
“You’re lucky Av’s not here. He’d kill you.”
Whisper shrugged. “I’m his only ally in all of this. He can’t kill me. Besides, he hasn’t put a ring on you yet, he can’t be that serious.”
I couldn’t hide my smile, or the heat rushing to my cheeks.
“About that…”
He gaped at me. “No, nooo! He did? When? Where is it?”
My grin grew as I slipped my necklace out from under my shirt.
The ring hung there and I took a second to admire it.
I hadn’t wanted to take it off this morning when I went to work, but I couldn’t exactly go in and expect no one to notice.
Then there would be an insane amount of questions I wouldn’t be able to answer.
“Holy fuck! That’s gorgeous. Jesus Christ, that must have cost a fortune. The gem alone was probably—”
“Stop. I don’t want to know. I’m stressed out enough as it is, walking around this shithole. Knowing will make it ten times worse.”
“Fair enough. So… Did he drag you straight to the courthouse? Or are you planning a big thing?”
“He’s dead. So… I honestly don’t know what he was thinking when he asked. Or what I was thinking when I said yes. But it is nice to be able to tell someone.”
“Why can’t you tell anyone? He doesn’t look anything like the Avalanche people see on TV. You could totally bring him around your friends.”
“I can’t. They… I introduced Blacksmith to everyone. If they meet Av, it will get back to her, and he’s still not sure if she can be trusted. Plus, Hem would probably try to kill him and that would blow his cover and… I don’t really know what we’re going to do.”
“You introduced all your friends to The Blacksmith? And they were just like ‘Oh cool, hey’? And now you’re all friends?”
“No, stupid. I have this thing called discretion. I introduced her as the bartender at our new hangout spot. My friends are always dragging me out the Crossroads now. I think they like her more than me.”
“What’s her name?” Whisper’s brown eyes twinkled as he leaned forward. “I’ve always wanted to know, but her mental shields are crazy strong.”
“Good try.” I pointed my chopsticks at him. “You guys all trust me because I keep secrets. I’m not telling you shit.”
He sighed. “Fine. I bet you don’t keep secrets from Av.”
“I’ve never told him a name. He knows Hem and Weave’s because he’s a nosey busybody and overheard them telling me but that’s not my fault.”
“What? I don’t even know Hem’s name and he’s my best friend!”
I shrugged. “Clearly not, ’cause you don’t even know his name.”
“You’re an evil woman, no wonder Av’s obsessed with you.”
I grinned. “As much as I’m loving this conversation, can we get to the reason I’ve invited you over?”
“Right. Training. Let’s do it.”
Whisp spent an hour going over the basics of how his powers worked.
He couldn’t exactly read minds, but he could invade them, then plant and remove thoughts.
He had to be actively trying to slip into someone’s mind, so he didn’t just hear people’s thoughts.
He looked relieved about that. I imagine I would be too, hearing people’s inside thoughts sounded like a terrible time.
“Your mental shield is way too strong for someone who supposedly doesn’t have powers, so I’m definitely with Av on the ‘they’re dormant and waiting for you to need them’ theory. I’ve actually been dying to ask how you managed to get them so…secure.”
“Dunno.” I shrugged. “Even before the incident I’d always had this nagging voice in my head like what if someone could you hear you thinking right now?
So I just kind of pictured a wall around my mind.
Once you started making headlines, I spent a lot of time staring at my ceiling building more walls, more layers.
I really didn’t want anyone in my head.”
“Alright, let’s test if you can get into others’ heads. Close your eyes.”
I did.
“Picture your shield in your mind.”
I nodded, pulling up the mental imagine of my walls. When I’d first started building them, I’d pictured them as bricks. As time went on, I’d played around with it a bit more. Right now it was set up like a medieval castle with stone walls and a crocodile infested moat circling the whole thing.
“Damn, this is cooler than last time.”
I smiled. “Thank you.”
“Okay, so now you’re going to focus outside the walls. Do you see any gaps or any bridges?”
I focused on the darkness, looking for anything that would let me travel outside my own mind.
“I don’t… Wait, I think I see something. It’s a bridge from inside the wall, though. Is that normal?”
“No. Where does it lead?”
I followed the bridge until I was met with a castle made of ice and snow.
“It leads to Av.”
V? What—
“But he’s not here.” Whisper’s voice cut off Austin.
“I don’t know what to tell you. The bridge leads right inside his own walls.”
Are you okay, baby? Austin reached out, I guess he could feel me there.
Sorry, Whisper started talking. I’m good, just training. I gotta scoot. I’ll tell you all about it when you get home. Also, thanks for sending him with sushi, I was craving it.
His laughed echoed through my mind. Something told me you were. I’ll be home in an hour. I love you.
I love you. I blew a kiss down the bridge before I opened my eyes. Whisper was staring at me with disbelief all over his face.
“Hem said… I thought he was fucking with me.”
“What?”
“We were drinking one night and he told me about a girl he had a crush on in university. She was dating this guy and every time he hung out with the two of them he swore they were talking to each other, mind to mind. He said that he asked her about it once. She’d just winked and asked him if he’d ever heard the rumour about soulmates.
Then moved on like nothing happened. At least, that’s what he said.
I thought it was so stupid. I don’t know that I believe we even have souls. But…”
“That sounds...” Crazy.
“You should ask Hem about it. Maybe he can get in touch with his friend and you can learn more that way?”
“I don’t think it really matters. Either way, I clearly don’t have a power like yours… One thing at a time. I figure out my powers, then maybe I’ll see if Hem can dig up some more info for me.”
“Speaking of Hem, I should probably run. We’re supposed to hit up a couple bars tonight. He’s probably wondering where the heck I am.”
“Of course. I didn’t mean to take up so much of your time.” I walked with him the five steps it took to get to the door.
“You can have as much of my time as you want, V.” He winked.
I shook my head. “You villains and your flirting. It’s probably a good thing you’re leaving before Av gets home.”
“Actually, before I go, why have you and Hem been so weird around each other since Christmas?”
I sighed. “I was really hoping you’d just let that go.”
“Nope.”
“During one his check-in calls I was…preoccupied…distracted, if you will. And…I…let him…listen.”
I didn’t have to elaborate on what I was preoccupied with, I was sure my rosy, red cheeks did that for me.
Whisps keeled over with laughter. “No! That’s so much better than I’d imagined. Did he just listen? Or was he an active participant?”
I groaned, pulling the door open and pushing him through it.
“Wait, if I do your bedtime check in tonight, can I listen, too?”
I slammed the door in his face.