Sunday morning came way too soon for Adam. He rolled out of bed at 8:43 am, which was unusually late for him. 7 am was his usual wake-up time, regardless of when he fell asleep. Last night he had fallen into bed around 10 pm, so he had slept almost 11 hours. Lucky for him, being Sunday, his mom wouldn't be up for a while.
He made his way downstairs with the usual amount of stealth and proceeded to make breakfast. He fried an egg and put it on a piece of toast, ate and chased it down with a big glass of water. That would hold him until lunch when he would try to eat a larger meal, as he assumed there would be a lot of labor later.
He left the dirty dishes in the sink so the noise wouldn't wake his mother. She would make sure he cleaned them up later anyway, frowning over how he had left them. He was used to the guilt trip so it didn't bother him much.
Adam left the house by 9:30 and headed for the peacefulness of his garage. He hadn't stashed the pin there the previous night only because he was tired. He slept in his clothes with the pin secure in his pocket. In the silence of the garage, Adam’s mind drifted through images of the previous night and some of the conversation with Don. He had mentioned that not all members had keys to the tunnels, and not all of the keys opened all of the doors. That seemed strange. Then again, it also felt strange to think of him as Don and not Mr. Chen.
He shook his head to clear the sleep. Even Kevin's coffee might be good right now, he thought, until he remembered the aftertaste. It gave him a shudder that cleared his mind a little. It had only been the previous morning, but it felt like a week ago. The sugar and caffeine rush, followed by the adrenaline and excitement, must have been what made him sleep so long.
He wasn't tired enough to go back to sleep; just in a haze. His brain didn't seem like it was working much at all. It was lazily going through scenes from the past couple of days, almost in disbelief that some of them even happened, when the whole information session with Don came back into focus again. There was so much that Don either didn't know or was holding back, and Adam wanted more answers. It wasn't a general curiosity, though. He felt like he needed answers to understand a part of himself.
Who was Number 1? What were they hiding? Was it hidden in Grayson right now?
He needed to find answers so he could at least prepare for whatever was coming. He needed to be able to protect his friends. But how?
It seemed the best course of action was to learn about the Sentinel League and find Number 1. Adam could ask them what was happening. Maybe Number 1 would think Adam was just a kid, so it wouldn’t hurt to tell him about the secret. If not, Adam was prepared to use his father’s death as a crowbar and pry at some heartstrings, since Number 1 had to have been close with Adam’s father. Edward had been Number 2 after all.
Adam twiddled his thumbs as he slouched in the old chair, feet on the coffee table. Time ticked, and slowly Sunday morning moved on. He couldn’t wait until he would meet the others and get the day started. He took a small amount of comfort in the fact that the events in Langenburg and Waldron happened a week apart, so if Grayson was next, he should have a few more days to figure things out.
He looked at his watch. 10:13 am. He had wasted some time sitting and thinking, but not a whole lot. Kevin was meeting him at the intersection between their houses around 10:45, so Adam decided to wait for him there. At least he’d waste a couple of minutes walking to the intersection. If he had his bike, he would have gone for a ride around town, as the exercise would calm his mind and waste time simultaneously.
At the intersection, Adam sat with his back against a tree. The tree grew just inside the corner of the sidewalk intersection. It was a shady spot, a little cool on that summer morning. Squirrels ran up and down trees nearby, shaking the odd leaf loose. Summer birds sang songs, sometimes quiet and slow, other times shrill and speedy. Being Sunday morning, there wasn’t any traffic noise to interrupt the sounds of nature quite yet.
“Hey, Sleeping Beauty.”
Kevin’s voice made Adam open his eyes.
“I wasn’t sleeping, just relaxing.”
“Yeah yeah, and Mark is just big-boned. C’mon, let’s go.”
Adam smiled and stood up. “You know, a better reference would be Rip Van Winkle, not Sleeping Beauty, although I haven’t been here for 20 years.”
Kevin looked at him with a slightly raised eyebrow, clearly not understanding the reference.
“When you get home later, look it up,” said Adam. He chuckled to himself.
They began walking toward the gas station.
“If I’d’ve known you were gonna be this tired, I’d’ve made you another coffee,” said Kevin.
“I hope to never be tired enough that I’d need your coffee ever again. That stuff would bring on the zombie apocalypse.” Adam laughed at his own joke.
“I could’ve made it taste good, but that’s not why I made it. It was meant to wake you up. It did wake you up, right?”
“Yes, but –“
“I rest my case.”
“- but –“
“I rest my case!” Kevin said, faking a gavel strike.
Adam laughed. Kevin was right; it did what Kevin had intended, even if it tasted terrible.
A few minutes later they arrived at their destination. Mark was already there, so they only needed to wait for Jimmy.
“How did things go with your dad?” asked Adam.
“I dunno. Good and bad.” Mark shrugged his shoulders, but didn’t intend to continue on with the subject. Knowing Mark, that wasn’t due to him not wanting to continue, but rather his poor communication skills.
Adam and Kevin looked at each other, back to Mark, and back to each other again. Kevin rolled his hand in a circular motion to get Mark to continue.
“Yeah, sorry. Spaced out for a sec. Anyway, when I got home last night I wanted to talk to him, but Mom wasn’t feeling good and Miri wouldn’t go to sleep. Dad had sent Mom to bed and was trying to get Miri down. I said to him, ‘Did you talk to Mr. Chen?’, and he just nodded and gave me the ‘shh’ finger to the lips. I went up to bed and fell asleep pretty quick. By the time I got up this morning, the girls were up again, and Mom was up too, feeling much better…She wouldn’t be pregnant, would she? I mean, she was sick last night, right? Man, I hope not.”
Adam and Kevin laughed at Mark.
“First, it’s morning sickness, not evening,” Kevin grinned.
Mark looked relieved at the news.
“Second, you took a left turn at the end of your story.”
“Oh, sorry. So, where was I? Oh yeah – hi Jimmy!” Mark waved at Jimmy over the other boys.
“Sorry I’m a bit late. Don called my parents last night and told them what happened,” said Jimmy.
“No problem. Just hang on and we’ll get the rest of Mark’s story out of him and come back to yours,” said Adam. “But first, let’s get going for the bikes.”
As they walked, Adam said, “Go on,” and waved to Mark. Mark started thinking, trying to remember where he stopped.
“When you woke up, everyone else was up already…” Adam helped Mark get started.
“Oh yeah, that’s it. So, everyone else was up already. I couldn’t exactly say ‘good morning Number 2, what’s the Sentinel League all about?’. I can’t say anything in front of my sisters, and I don’t even know if my mom knows about it, so I just sat quietly and ate my breakfast. Dad stared at me the whole time. When I was done, I told Mom that we had offered to help Mr. Chen – Don – with some odd jobs. She thought it was great that we were getting involved with the community. I left right after that and was standing behind the gas station since 10:30.”
“You said that it was good and bad. What do you mean?” asked Adam.
“I’ve been worried that Dad’s going to be mad that I was caught in the tunnels and got inducted into the League out of necessity rather that having earned it, so it’s good that he hasn’t been able to get me alone. It’s bad because if I could get him alone, maybe he would answer some of
our questions. I still can’t believe that he’s the Number 2 in a secret organization.”
Adam was happy with the answer. “Your turn,” he said to Jimmy.
Jimmy prepared his story like a shady salesman prepares his pitch to a customer. “When I got home last night, all was normal. I watched some TV and went to bed. When I woke up this morning, my whole family was sitting at the kitchen table waiting. We usually sit at the table to eat, but this felt like an intervention from the second I walked in the room. Don had called early this morning and told them everything. It turns out that Mom and Dad have been members since they were 16, although Mom grew up at another Sentinel League town.
My parents weren’t happy about us poking around at the elevator, but the biggest problem was my brother. He’s not too pleased with the fact that he wasn’t asked to join the League until recently - after they deemed him worthy - and we just had to do a ‘break and enter’ as he put it, to get asked to join the League.”
Jimmy paused for a second and looked at the others to make sure they were listening. After finding their attention trained on him, he continued. “I only found out a few things from them, and I think some of the things they told me were just to make Trevor feel better about the whole situation. Trevor is a full initiate, and he’ll be going away for training, while we are only Junior Initiates. We won’t be going anywhere for a long time. We’re basically going to be slaves to the local members while they tell us a few details about the League. I don’t know for sure if they said that just to keep Trevor happy, or if they were telling the truth, but after hearing them talk this morning, I know where I get my smooth style from.”
“I like how you refer to it as ‘style’,” Mark said, straight faced.
Jimmy gave him an angry look that broke into a smile.
“Use what you’ve got I say, and I’ve got a lot,” said Jimmy.
“A little or a lot, it still sucks when I step in what you’ve got,” Mark shot back. The other two boys roared with laughter.
They teased each other back and forth until they reached the spot where they had stashed the bikes. It was difficult work to get the bikes out of the trees, and even worse to get them back up the steep ditch onto the road again. Adam ended up helping Mark by pulling on the front wheel of his bike. Adam felt like he wasn’t just helping pull the bike up the hill, he was pulling the bike and Mark up the hill.
After sitting for a minute to catch their breath, the group pedaled back toward town. It was a quiet ride, as they wondered what duties were in front of them, imagining the worst. Kevin imagined cleaning out George’s trailer and shuddered. Mark imagined having to shovel manure, which combined his dislike of manual labor with his horror of manure. Jimmy didn't have a fear of doing any particular job, but having to do a job in silence was particularly scary for him.
Adam, out of all three, couldn't wait to see what work was ahead, because whatever it was, it was connected to the League. That connection made him feel closer to his dad than he had ever felt before.
"Meet you after lunch," said Mark as he turned down the street toward home. The others continued on in the same direction, and soon Jimmy turned off as well.
When they reached the intersection where Adam and Kevin would usually part company, Kevin signalled for Adam to stop.
"Come to my house for lunch. I know you don't want to go home."
"I should go home. I don't want to just show up at your place and say 'feed me'," said Adam.
“Why not? My family likes you.”
“Yeah, but I’d be an inconvenience.”
“Inconvenience? How? There’s 6 of us at the table already. That little extra you’re gonna eat isn’t gonna make us go broke! Besides, I eat more in one sitting than you do all day.”
Adam laughed at his friend. Kevin always knew how to cheer Adam up, which was why Kevin was such a good friend. Why Kevin hung out with Adam, Adam didn’t know. He guessed it was probably because Kevin was just a nice guy.
“Lead on,” said Adam, pointing toward the Baranov homestead.
“Before we go, I want to talk to you a little,” said Kevin.
Adam felt strange that Kevin had just convinced him to come over for lunch and now was stopping him for a ‘talk’.
“Maybe you didn’t notice, but I didn’t say anything about my family after the other guys were done telling about their evenings with their families.”
He was right, Adam didn’t think about it, but the Baranov’s were probably Sentinel League members. He knew that Kassie Baranov was an inductee, so one or both of their parents probably were as well.
“Sorry, I feel bad that I didn’t even think about it,” Adam replied.
“That’s ok. Last night, after my little sisters went to bed, the rest of us sat up and talked. My parents weren’t upset about me getting into the League, although they didn’t like how it happened. Kassie was really excited for me, though.”
Adam nodded and smiled.
“I found out that the Sentinel League is really old, like centuries. They were around at almost all major turning points in history. If they weren’t observing the turning points, they were involved in them. Their mandate is to protect Mankind and let it grow naturally, whatever that means. The name Sentinel League comes from that. They are to watch over Mankind – Sentinel - and it doesn’t matter what country you are from or what nationality you are, as long as you share the same ideals – League.”
That made sense to Adam. It also made him more curious about the League. He wondered what sort of things they had hidden in tunnels across the globe.
“Did they say anything about how many members there are, or anything about the knowledge they seem to have?”
“Not really. I did ask about the biolumi..lami..loomo…”
“Bioluminescence,” Adam finished the word for Kevin.
“Yeah, that. They asked how I knew about that, so I told them about Ben’s dungeon, and they laughed. They said that the knowledge of the ceiling light has been around for a long time, but because of the source of the knowledge it couldn’t be given to the general public.”
“That seems strange,” stated Adam.
“That’s what I said. They said I will understand it later, once I’ve learned more. They also said they didn’t want to tell me too much because the League will train us in their own way when we’re ready….so I asked them if it had something to do with space aliens.”
Adam’s eyes widened. He didn’t know if Kevin was being serious or joking. “Really?…and…”
“They laughed at me a little and said no, it didn’t have anything to do with aliens. Then they said I watch too much TV.”
Adam relaxed a little, but was getting even more confused. The Sentinel League was a confusing organization.
“I asked them about Langenburg and Waldron and they told me not to worry about it. If they felt we needed to leave, we’d be going on a long vacation in a hurry, and besides, they weren’t called the Sentinel League for nothing. They have knowledge of who did it and we shouldn’t worry. Langenburg and Waldron aren’t destroyed, just broken doors and windows everywhere. The media are the ones that have made it sound worse than it is, although the people are still gone.”
“Coming from your parents, that makes me feel better,” said Adam. “Did they tell you any more about the disappearances?”
“No, they didn’t. It was pretty late when we started talking, so they sent me to bed. When I got up this morning my little sisters were up, so we couldn’t talk about it again,” said Kevin.
Adam shook his head that he understood. “Thanks for telling me. I appreciate you letting me know.”
Kevin smiled and looked back at him. “The reason I didn’t tell the other two is because they would have just kept making me feel stupid because I forgot to ask this question or that question. I knew you wouldn’t, so thank you.”
Adam then understood what Kevin got out of their friendship.
“Let’s go eat,” he sa
id to Kevin as he pedaled past.
“Beat you there.” Kevin raced past Adam, and Adam followed.
Down the gravel road they rode until they turned up the long driveway that led to the Baranov farm house. Adam loved the Baranov’s yard as it was quiet, peaceful, and well cared for. The Baranov’s didn’t have brand new vehicles and equipment, as they were considered small farmers compared to everyone else, but whatever they had was well-maintained.
Kevin propped his bike against the house, near the garage door, and Adam did the same. Always neat and tidy, just like the yard.
When they stepped into the house, Kassie saw Adam first. “Hello stranger,” she teased.
“Hi,” said Adam, feeling a little shy and awkward.
“Hi Adam, you’re staying for lunch, right?” asked Mrs. Baranov as she stood at the kitchen counter. The look on her face showed that it wasn’t really a question as much as a statement, no matter how it was said.
“If it’s ok with you, I would like to.”
“She’d be insulted if you didn’t,” said Mr. Baranov as he stood up from his chair at the table. He had been sitting with his back to the boys. He looked like an older version of his son but more stocky and powerful.
Two girls ran into the kitchen, having heard Adam’s voice. One was smaller and obviously younger than the other. "Hi Adam," said the older girl, while the younger one acted shy.
"Hi Karlea. Hi Kelsea," Adam replied.
The older sister, Karlea, had a mischievous smile. "Kelsea has a crush on you!"
"Karlea!!" yelled Kelsea.
Adam blushed a little.
"Don't tease your sister Karlea," said Mrs. Baranov, "and don't embarrass Adam. He's our guest."
Karlea hung her head as Kelsea punched her in the arm. Mrs. Baranov scolded Kelsea with a look, and Kelsea hung her head as well.
"If you two have so much energy, you can set the table," their mother said as Adam and Kevin sat down near Mr. Baranov.
Kassie sat across from Adam and Kevin. "So," she started, "I hear you had an exciting day yesterday." She smiled, staring directly at Adam.
"Ben can be quite a scary guy at times," said Mr. Baranov, "but he's really a decent man."
Kevin coughed. "Could've fooled me. No normal person has a jail cell for home use. That, and those hoods aren't exactly child-proof.
"His job is security and he's good at it. Unconventional, sometimes, but that's why he's here. Once you get to know him more he'll grow on you," said Mr. Baranov.
Adam felt strange hearing so much while the two girls set plates on the table around them. Mr. Baranov picked up on his discomfort.
"Ben works for the town, just like you, Kevin and Kassie, but you’re volunteering this summer," said Mr. Baranov, making the story perfectly clear.
Adam nodded.
"Egg salad sandwiches ok with you, Adam?"
"Perfect, Mrs. Baranov," replied Adam.
"You can call me Charity, Adam. I've told you that before," she said in a gentle voice, "and you call him Mike, especially now that you work for the town."
"Yes ma'am, I'll try," Adam replied.
Charity began setting food on the table, followed by her youngest two children.
"Can I help?" asked Adam, starting to get up from his chair.
"Sit," Charity commanded.
Adam sunk back down.
"What are we going to be doing?" Kevin asked his dad. "Do you know?"
"I don't," Mike replied. "They’re talking about it this morning. Most likely it won't be anything exciting. Be prepared for manual labor. Don't worry; they won't work you too hard.”
That didn't comfort Adam much. Mike's opinion of not working too hard was a lot harder than most people. He was well-known for his work ethic and ability to accomplish large jobs.
The rest of the family sat at the table and they ate. The room was filled with happy family banter combined with great food. In Adam's opinion, Kevin had a perfect life.
CHAPTER NINETEEN