Chapter Six
By the time she and Stan had reached their destination, Myka could swear that she was really in the centre of Paris and not some bizarre mirror world. The clueless docility she'd arrived with was long gone and the world around her was completely solid and bright, with its contrasts of vivid and muted colours.
Myka thanked Stan as he opened the door to a block of apartments and indicated that she should go ahead of him. They rode four floors up in the elevator and emerged in what appeared to be a large communal area. Her companion greeted various acquaintances but didn't stop as he led them passed circles of sofas to a door on the far side of the room. Inside, he showed her to a seat and disappeared back into the mass of bodies for several minutes.
Myka had a fleeting wish to be blissfully unaware of her situation again. She felt like she'd been drugged and kidnapped... only willingly. She remembered placing Helena's poem back in her book and rereading the inscription in the cover for the thousandth time and then feeling an irresistible voice whispering in the back of her mind.
She still wasn't entirely sure that HG knew she had the poem. Myka had found it while snooping around Emily Lake's apartment. She'd picked up one of the school teacher's first editions and the letter, addressed simply with 'My Myka' written in familiar flowing script, had been sticking out of the protective cover. Without a second thought, the agent had pocketed it and now carried it everywhere.
With her mind her own again, Agent Bering had a million questions that she wanted answers to now. The one at the fore of her mind was 'can these people be trusted'?
Before her thoughts could run away with her too much, Stan returned with two others in tow. On his right stood a woman of a similar age, with white hair pulled back into a bun and on his left, a younger man who sported casual jeans and t-shirt. Both new arrivals gave the agent a brief surveying glance, each with something akin to pity in their eyes.
"Myka, this is Jacques," Stan gestured to the young man who held out a hand to take Myka's and surprised her with a traditional greeting and a husky 'enchanté'. She blushed despite herself and thanked him before turning to greet the elder woman. "And this," Stan continued, "Is May." Myka shook her hand and was taken aback again when she found herself being pulled into a hug.
"Try not to look so terrified dear. We're all friends here and we'll take care of you as well as anyone else."
Myka nodded stiffly and sank into her chair with a small sigh. "What am I doing here?" She enquired instantly. "What are any of us doing here?" The three other adults exchanged a look and took their seats, each facing her but obviously being careful not to crowd her.
Stan kicked off the proceedings with a small cough to get everyone's attention. "Most of us have a similar story. We felt an unexplainable pull to a particular place and arrived here with little sense of our surroundings or our own needs."
"It's only when we have a chance to interact with others that our thoughts and control return to us." May informed the agent. "Anyone who ends up in this place experiences almost total apathy until one of us makes the effort to converse with them."
"Is there no way out?" Myka was desperate for answers now that she could voice her thoughts. "How long have you been here?"
"We have been here many years and have found no way to escape. Those who came before us could not tell us either how to get out." Jacques seemed relaxed, his posture uncaring, but Myka could see the anger in his gaze. "Some of us have resigned to our fate; we do not need and yet we live. Some of us have forgotten the lives we came from and are content with new friends; new loves."
The agent felt her blood run cold. No escape? She couldn't believe it. Wouldn't believe it. She knew about all sorts of strange things and had always discovered a way to stop them. She was a Warehouse agent with friends on the outside who would not give up; would not stop until they found her. So what if agents had gone missing before and never been found? Pete, Claudia, Artie, Steve... Even Mrs. Frederick; they were an amazing team and would crack this case somehow.
As for new love? She feared that her heart had become far too jaded for that, no matter where she happened to be.
"How often do new people arrive and how long have you been here?" Myka watched them exchange a look that she was quickly becoming frustrated with.
"When one of us expires here, that is when we notice new faces." Jacques answered in his collected 'matter-of-fact' tone.
May leaned forward and added softly, "Not all of the folk who arrive here can be saved."
"Saved?" Myka questioned, alarmed.
"From the blankness they arrived with. You were very quick to respond once you noticed me," Stan explained. "But sadly there are those who never respond. They become less responsive over time until they completely stop and lie unnoticed and eventually expire."
"So we can die here?" They nodded reluctantly. "Where do you lay the bodies?"
Stan cleared his throat. "There aren't any. We don't need to eat, sleep or even go to the bathroom. When we expire, we simply lose the ability to stay conscious and disappear into the ground."
"And no, we don't know what happens after that," May interjected knowingly. "As for how long we've been here..." her expression hardened, the pain of her loss and helplessness briefly visible. "Well, let's just say that you're typically older than most who find themselves in Limbo."
Myka let that thought sink in and felt the horror that followed begin to overwhelm her senses. Again, the faces of her friends and family assaulted her mind but this time another joined them.
Unbidden, the memory of Helena Wells' magnetic image wound its way to the forefront of Myka's thought. All of her recent visions tugged at her, vying for equal attention, until her final memory of HG brought back the tears that she'd sworn she would never shed again.
Why had she accepted Helena's surrender so readily? Why had she walked away when deep down she'd wanted to scream and demand that they fight for what she knew they both wanted? If she had that time again, she would stamp down on her fear with iron boots and camp out on the inventor's doorstep until she could be honest about her feelings; until they'd aired out every avoided accusation and apology.
Now she knew she might never get a chance to see the woman she loved again, let alone speak to her.
When Myka was able to focus on the people around her again, she realised that Stan and Jacques had left her and May alone.
"That's it dearie, just breathe," May tried to calm the panicking agent with a soft, comforting tone. "I know it may not seem like it now but you will get used to life here. You seem like a very capable and intelligent young woman."
Myka lifted her head from her knees and stared across the room. After a few steadying breaths, she faced her companion again. This time, every frown and laughter line struck a bitter chord and the agent swore to herself that she would never give up trying to find her way home.
"Please. I know many of you must have searched endlessly for a way out. I've dealt with the unexplained and unexplainable before..." She closed her eyes briefly and swallowed the images of her Warehouse family. "Please; just tell me everything you can."
HG's demeanour hardened and her temper shortened as she led her colleagues to the street behind scene of her daughter's murder. She worked with complete focus, unwilling to stop for the slightest thing.
Pete put extra effort into being sensitive and quiet but he still found himself being snapped at and poked a fair bit. Having gotten over most of his mistrust and feelings of betrayal, he actually found that he liked and respected the older agent. She'd had to deal with many terrible things, some of her own making, and he doubted that anyone could come out from being bronzed for a century with a clear head. He couldn't say for certain that he would have an ounce of sanity left after that much time being stuck in his own mind. It made sense that HG had eventually cracked. Now here she was, helping them even though it had to be tearing her up inside.
Steve intervened as much as he could to keep their investigation flowing smoothly. He watched the raven haired agent setting up her home-made sensors and wondered how much time she actually spent with other people. She had quite clearly been busy tinkering for the last few months. He made a note to ask her about it.
"Bugger!" HG cursed as the device in her hand fizzed and sparked, causing all the agents to cover their eyes.
"What was that?" Pete blurted seconds later.
Before she could muster up the energy to think of something sarcastic to say, HG's attention was drawn to the blank space of wall staring at them from the dead-end of the side street they were standing in.
All three agents gasped as one of the bricks near the base shook and shimmered, becoming translucent the longer they stared at it.
"What the...?"
Agent Jinks reached over to Pete and pushed his chin up, closing his gaping mouth. Glancing at the inventor, Steve caught a momentary expression of 'absence' before the frown was back. Knowing that Myka had experienced lapses in her concentration too, shortly before her disappearance, he added this to the list of things he needed to speak to the Victorian about.
As quickly as the phenomenon had begun, it stopped and the brick became an ordinary brick again.
"Well, that was trippy," Pete announced after a moment of silence. "What do your gadgets tell you HG?" He attempted a smile as he turned to the Brit. The hunt for his missing partner was taking its toll on his optimism but somehow he was still managing to appear upbeat on occasion.
"No, it's not bloody possible," HG mumbled, distracting herself by reading the display on her gizmo.
Pete put a hand on her shoulder, ready to pull away quickly should she show any sign of irritation. "Hey, you ok?"
Jinksy stepped towards them and caught her eye. "You saw something, didn't you?"
"Don't be absurd," she answered quickly. "Of course not." Helena shrugged and turned her back on the men, missing the glance that passed between them.
"You're lying," Steve accused gently.
The inventor grumbled, "Damn and blast."
"You saw something," the human lie detector repeated. "Probably like Myka did before she disappeared."
"Fine, alright yes, I saw something," she admitted reluctantly. "Are you happy now?"
"You mean just now? You had a vision?" Pete recalled the blank expression on Myka's face when she'd collapsed against him. "Or a memory?"
Helena glanced back at the brick, sighing as she leant back against a wall and closed her eyes, easily recalling the images she'd been briefly assaulted with. "Not a memory," she muttered. Her eyes opened, revealing unshed tears that threatened to fall. "They were together. Myka and... and Christina."
So how's it going so far guys? Does it make any sense? Anyone think they know what's going on? (If you do, could you please tell me! ;-)