667: Issue #13 "Doppelgänger"

“I’m so glad you got back to me. Yes, Violet mentioned in her notes that you had moved. I figured since you are in that area, that maybe you would like to help us get in contact with those local to you? There are so many that we still have to locate and we figured it might be easier to outsource.” Angelica laughed as she spoke to another 667 on the phone.

“Sure, that’d be great. I have a list of those who may be within a couple hundred miles radius of you based on older files. We’ve been using the internet to look up names and match them with places of origin and then contacting them via e-mail or phone number if they have it. Sometimes it’s a long shot, but it’s kind of difficult to set up a way for them to contact us with the current state of affairs. Thank you so much! I will send the list to you via e-mail by the end of the day. Talk to you later.” Angelica hung of the phone and exhaled loudly.

“Which one was that?” I asked, sitting in front of my own computer with the final list of the 667 in front of me.

“Simon Weathers. Uh, number 231.” Angelica scribbled something down on a sticky note and attached it to the board on the wall.

“And his powers are?” I waited for the rest.

“Oh, I forgot to ask.” Angelica grimaced at me.

“Well, if Vi contacted him already, it should be in her e-mail.” I arched a brow at her.

“Duh, right. Hold on—empathy. Poor thing.” Angelica felt for him.

“Aren’t empaths already a thing?” I thought that Violet herself fit the bill for that.

“Yes and no, but from what Violet wrote down, this poor man had to have himself loaded up on all sorts of anti-depressants and anxiety medications as well as enough Valium to sedate a rhino just to function since he transformed.” Angelia made a tsk sound with her tongue.

“Have you noticed that a lot of these people we have talked to so far don’t have physical transformations? I mean, I’m sure empathy could reduce you to a blubbering mess at any given moment and that could result in puffy red eyes, but it ain’t this.” I reached back to scratch at my wings. They had stayed present and didn’t seem to want to go back to where they came from.

“I’ve noticed. I wonder when this was all orchestrated if they knew how it would play out exactly or if it’s more of a let’s-wait-and-see sort of thing.” Angelica closed Violet’s laptop and lounged back in her office chair.

“Anyway, I think I’m done for the day. My eyes are starting to hurt from staring at the screen.” I stood, stretched, and rubbed the soot from my eyes.

“I need to stretch my wings.” Angelica joked, but there was a slight pained expression on her face. Alex mentioned that he had talked with her about her outburst in regards to Juliet, but didn’t go into detail because he said it wasn’t his place.

The two of us left the comfort of our makeshift office that Cassandra had created for us in one of the spare bedrooms and went our separate ways.

The sun was just starting to go down and Angelica and I had been attempting to contact those of us that Violet had already been in touch with previously, trying to create a network to spread out and get ahold of the others more easily.

It had been close to a month since our dinner party with Josiah’s friends and he had spent most of his time scanning and signing paperwork and working out the legal kinks of things with Angel. She decided to take a break from that and get some side work done with me while Claire and Brooke went out to do some shopping for Cassandra and the rest of us back at the swamp house.

I found Josiah in his study as I was walking down the hall to head to the kitchen. I decided I would peek my head in and check on him, “How’re things going with the non-profit stuff?”

“We’ve had to rework a few things. I was hoping that the 501-c-4 status would work for us, but with all the heat from last month we decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea for us to name ourselves as a Social Welfare Organization. It could target us for violence.” Josiah had been writing something down and he set his pen on the desk and took off his glasses to massage the bridge of his nose.

“Then what? 501-c-3? Label us as a Religious or Scientific organization? That could be dangerous too if they found out that we weren’t actually operating that way. It could make us look sketchy and draw even more unwanted attention. I say we be honest, label it what it really is, and stand up for ourselves. Krumpp has no way to prove that any of us are terrorists save for the bullshit he already tried to pull with the help of Asher. And I’m still not sure that Krumpp isn’t in on this either.” I still had my doubts about his position.

“There aren’t enough of us, of you, to justify jeopardizing our safety like that.” Josiah was clearly stressed out over his idea at this point.

“There are plenty of us. Angelica and I got in touch with at least ten people today and one of them lives in the UK now and is going to start getting ahold of people out there. Claire and Brooke have been working tirelessly researching names and locale to find more contacts. If we create this organization then we can come out and they can find us. We have to fight to clear our names and not let them bulldoze us, Josiah. What do you think Violet would say about you backing down like this?” I had become quite passionate in the past few weeks. Partially because I had to take up the mantle for Violet and partially because I didn’t want to be anything close to what Abaddon thought I was.

“She’d have a few choice words, I suppose. That smart mouth of hers.” Josiah let out an amused chuckle even though he hadn’t said much of anything lately that didn’t relate to this work.

“Then continue with your idea. Keep doing whatever it is that you need to do to bring this all together and finalize it. I’ll back you a hundred percent and I know the others will too—well, maybe not Janus, but her deserter ass doesn’t count.” I waved my hand in the air.

“Thanks, Adam. I needed the encouragement, I suppose. I guess I’ll trash this religious organization paperwork and go back to the other since we were almost done with that. We still need a good name though and I am stumped on that one.” Josiah crumpled up the pages he had been working on and pulled out a different folder.

“I’ll think on that and get back to you. I’m going to go see if I can scrounge up some food in the kitchen. Want anything?” I was trying to be as nice as I could since he was helping us out in such a tremendous way.

“Coffee. Medusa said she was putting on a fresh pot, but that was an hour ago.” Josiah spoke without looking at me.

“If it’s cold, I’ll microwave it for you.” I patted the door frame and walked back down the hall.

Josiah had been working too hard. When we came back from Ohio a month ago he looked like he had been hit by a bus and Henri said he hadn’t been sleeping well. He attributed it to the stress of starting this organization and not being able to bring Violet back, but I had seen Josiah go through a lot these past few years and he had never cracked once. Though, these sorts of things pile on top of one another so he was probably due for a mental breakdown.

“Hey, baby. How’s the phone tree coming?” Medusa was in the kitchen as usual, but this time she was washing the dishes as a pot boiled on the stove.

“It’s coming. Josiah wants coffee; need me to bring it to him?” I saw the pot still warming on the plate.

“Shit. No, I’ll bring it to him. Will you watch this pot for me, please?” She asked as she pulled a mug from the cabinet and poured a cup of coffee.

“Of course.” I tried to keep my wings out of the way as Medusa scooted past me and up the stairs.

“We’re back! Got some groceries and new bed sheets for Adam.” I heard Claire call out as the front door opened.

“Thank you.” I hollered down the hallway.

“Oh, you’re still here. I figured you would have gone back to the swamp shanty by now.” Claire came into the kitchen with Brooke right behind her and set several paper bags full of food on the kitchen table.

“Angelica and I just finished up for the night a little bit ago. I had a talk with Josiah and was going to have a smoke before I headed back, but I’m on watched pot duty.” I held up a wooden spoon as I pointed at the almost boiling water.

“You know it’ll never boil that way.” Brooke joked and Claire laughed at her.

“I won’t look at it then.” I turned away and held my hand up to the side of the pot for a second and the water instantly came to a rolling boil.

“Who said that our powers weren’t practical?” Claire smirked at me.

“Not me. I regularly torch my sheets; saves me money on laundry detergent.” I joked back and brought all three of us into a fit of laughter.

“Oh, that was quick. Ya’ll better get going; Josiah doesn’t seem like he is in the mood for extra company this evening if you know what I mean. He said to take tomorrow off and just relax for a bit.” Medusa gave me that knowing look. Josiah needed his space and I understood.

“Sounds good. See you later, Mama.” I gave Medusa a hug and she held onto me for a moment before letting us go on our way.

I needed the day off anyway; I had some work to do with Angelica.