Battered Mettle--Chapter 1

A boy got off the train in Salt Lake City in the twilight, hefting his carry-on messenger bag over his shoulder and dragging a big OGIO suitcase with both hands behind him. His ill-fitting glasses had scooted to the bridge of his nose and his blue hoodie was drawn tight around him. His wiry frame didn’t look particularly strong, but he politely refused help whenever it was offered to him despite this.
He only needed to walk a little ways, he’d insist. It was only a block or so to the cab he’d called for, he’d say.
The funny thing was, if anyone had bothered to travel the block or so with him, they’d see the curb was lined with any vehicle but a cab. They’d see him continue to move with his luggage without even pausing to look for his alleged ride.
One or two people watched him as he struggled with his burden and thought to relieve him of some of it. As he passed a darkening alley, he heard a gun cocking and turned to see the blurry outline of a man, the slightly-less-blurry shape of the barrel of a gun pointed at him.
His glasses slipped down a little lower with the little jerk of him stopping in his tracks.
“Hey, kid,” he heard the man say. “Mind if I help you with your luggage?”
The boy blinked and closed his mouth.
“Well, now that you mention it, it is a little heavy,” he said, lifting it easily. With a heave, he hauled it into the air and turned quickly; his elbow knocked the gun from the man’s hand moments before the suitcase collided with his head. The gun went off harmlessly—well, not for the streetlight behind the kid—and clacked against the asphalt, and the would-be mugger slumped to the ground, unconscious.
After a moment, the boy sighed, realizing the quick motion had also relieved him of his glasses. He put the suitcase down and felt around for them. Once he’d found them, he slid them back onto his face and picked up his suitcase again.
How far of a walk is it to Hobble City? he wondered, giving the man no second thought as he continued on his merry way.

The bell rang clear at midday, signaling the outpour of students from classes to the cafeteria for lunch. Jaelyn was one of the first ones in line for the pizza pocket, and she waved cheekily at Ruby, who’d been late and now stood a dozen students away from her. She got her food and passed him, heading for the outdoor courtyard conjoined to the lunchroom.
She went for her fruit cup first, picking at the peaches as she waited for her friends to arrive. The first to approach was Opal, who brought her lunch from home. She was always more jovial before Ruby showed up, and Jaelyn estimated she had about five minutes before gloom-Opal made her appearance.
“What’d you bring today?” Jaelyn asked curiously, nibbling at a peach slice.
Opal set a thermos—probably full of her usual tea—and her lunch bag beside her on the grass. She pulled out a sandwich, a few sticks of celery, and a cinnamon roll, all neatly packed in separate plastic bags. Jaelyn narrowed her eyes at the cinnamon roll.
“Trade you my chocolate cake for that,” she said.
Opal squinted playfully at her and took a bite of her sandwich. Peanut butter came slightly out from between the bread slices, and Jaelyn pulled a face. It wasn’t that she was allergic to peanuts, but she really didn’t like peanut butter. It just looked gross.
“I don’t know,” Opal said thoughtfully. “I mean, that is school lunch chocolate cake, and this is a homemade cinnamon roll.”
“Why do you think I’m proposing a trade?”
Opal snorted, and Jaelyn was almost afraid that she’d choke on her sandwich. “Just for that, you can have it,” she chortled, passing over the roll.
Jaelyn grinned and set it aside for the moment. “Sweet, thanks. Any word on Carol?”
She didn’t have much of a second thought to the casual question until she saw the look on Opal’s face.
“I haven’t seen her in days,” she said. “We were supposed to meet up for coffee and go over our science project plans for this year—”
“Already?” Jaelyn interjected.
Opal gave her a look over the top of her half-moon glasses, then took a sip from her thermos of tea. “There’s no such thing as ‘already’ when it comes to prepping for the science fair,” she said sternly. “Anyway, she never showed. I called her cell, but she never answered, and I checked out her house, too. It’s quiet. No one seems to have been home in days.”
Jaelyn frowned at the thought that something might have happened to their friend, but it seemed even more suspicious that the widower Dr. Grant wouldn’t be making an appearance at home, either.
She was about to ask Opal if she’d tried Carol’s father’s phone when a low whistle interrupted her. Opal tensed up and swiftly moved to Jaelyn’s side before stuffing her mouth full of sandwich. Jaelyn figured she’d do that—her way of saying ‘no more talk’.
“And how’re we doin’ this fine summer morn?” Ruby asked jovially, pretending not to notice his sister’s blatant cold shoulder. He winked at Jaelyn, who scrunched her lips in an expression of playful irritation.
“Mildly concerned, actually,” she said, dropping the playful look to don something a little more serious. “Did you know Carol was missing?”
His eyes darted to Opal’s. It was strange how similar they could both look—same facial structure (almost), same long, mahogany hair (though Opal’s was longer and pulled in a loose ponytail)—and yet so different. His eyes were demonic, while hers looked almost human, but for the bright, multifaceted purple of her irises.
“No, I didn’t,” he said slowly, still looking at her. “When did this happen?”
Jaelyn looked at Opal, too, but it looked like she wasn’t going to talk. That figured. “She said they were supposed to meet up for coffee, but she never showed,” she explained for her.
Ruby was taken aback. Jaelyn knew this was a surprise to more than just her; Carol was so punctual, often she’d show up at least half an hour early for a meet-up.
“This is a problem,” he said in a quiet mutter, opening his chocolate milk. “We ain’t exactly a team without one of our key members.”
Jaelyn wanted to add, We ‘ain’t’ exactly a team, anyway, with a pointed look at Opal. But it didn’t really strike her as the time to be petty.
“So what should we do?” she asked.
“Find her,” Ruby replied matter-of-factly. “Find out who the last person to talk to her was. Get some info on her from the station. Wa’n’t she startin’ a summer internship at some lab thang?”
“Yeah,” Jaelyn said, taking a bite of her pizza pocket. “Aeon Gakeway or fomefin.”
Opal flicked her shoulder. “Don’t talk with your mouth full.”
“Fankf, Mom,” Jaelyn huffed amidst a spray of crumbs. She swallowed her bite and tried again. “Aeon Gateway. It’s a science place, Carol said it’d give her more experience to bring to the team. Me and you can check there after school, once I get the address. We’ll try to exhaust all possible resources before we take it up at the station, though. Remember, we’re still just junior members.”
The two nodded as one. Ruby’s ears turned red in embarrassment while Opal directed a glare his way. Jaelyn rolled her eyes. Did Opal really have to act like that?

“Students, we have a newbie joining us today,” said the teacher in a flat monotone. He held a hand out to a wiry boy in too-big glasses and a loose blue hoodie, who smiled nervously. “Giovanni del Cielo, wasn’t it?”
“Close enough,” Giovanni said, chuckling sheepishly. “I usually just go by Gio, though.”
Jaelyn doodled in the margins of her worksheet as she waited for them to get on with it. She’d been waiting for the answer to the next question on the sheet when the new kid had come in late. Nothing against him, but with her “after-school activities” looming over her head, and her schoolwork temporarily taken from her, she had no choice but to let her mind wander for the few moments until Mr. Jorgensen got back to it. And Mr. Jorgensen, if she was going by her experience in Biology last year, was a little slow getting things back together once he’d been interrupted.
“All right, there’s an empty seat just behind Miss Merren,” the teacher said, and Opal, sitting one seat over and two seats behind Jaelyn, raised her hand helpfully. “Take your seat, Mr. del Cielo, and we can continue on this syllabus.”
The kid nodded and brushed between the desks on his way. He glanced at Jaelyn as he went, and the girl started a bit, fixed on his eyes.
She’d never seen eyes like them. They looked almost glass behind his spectacles, painted on in a pale blue. The pupils seemed to be slightly warped—which would explain the need for the glasses—but there was a light behind them that matched the blue of his hoodie.
He noticed her expression and cleared his throat, looking ahead again as he hurried to his seat. Jaelyn turned to the front of the class as Mr. Jorgensen started going over the syllabus again.
Whoever this kid was, he wouldn’t try anything during class, would he? She glanced back at Opal to exchange a look with her, getting a shrug in response.
Throughout class, she kept an ear out for any odd movement from behind her. And when the bell rang to signal the end of class, she followed him down the hall until he turned the opposite way from where she was heading.

“So…” she heard Ruby say quietly.
Of course he’d be nervous, Jaelyn thought, hearing the faint tremor in his voice. “Don’t be a baby, Ruby,” she grumbled, though she understood why he was so nervous. The big building, the intel they were trying to get, the possible stakes if they failed or were found out; the amalgamation of it all was daunting, to say the least. But she continued: “We’re here for information. We’re a couple of teenagers looking for a friend that works here. These guys aren’t going to be suspicious unless you act suspicious.”
She pushed open the door, holding it for him while he grumbled under his breath. She couldn’t make out everything he said, but she would bet there were enough cuss words in there to fill Mrs. Samson’s swear jar with quarters. Again, she didn’t blame him.
She marched straight to the front desk, not caring too much about the crisp, spotless interior of the office building, or whether her companion was keeping up. She put a polite smile on her face as she greeted the woman behind the desk—a woman with finely penciled eyebrows and a tight, proper blonde bun.
“Hello, what can I do for you?” asked the woman, her smile looking as plastic as Jaelyn’s felt.
Ruby seemed to have gotten over his grievance, or was a really good actor. She was betting the latter. “We’re lookin’ for a friend, ma’am,” he said, with that endearing Southern inflection in his voice. “An intern that works here. Maybe you’ve seen her?”
The woman’s face hardened for an instant, then wrinkled in confusion. A red flag went up, a gut feeling telling Jaelyn that she knew more than she’d be letting on. “An intern? I don’t think—”
“Check your records for her, maybe.” She tried not to sound too impatient, but she never had been very good at being patient. “Her name’s Carol Grant. Five-foot-ish, Hispanic, dark red hair…”
She could have gone on, but she noticed—under the layers of foundation—that the receptionist’s face had gone white. Ruby turned to look at her accusingly. Not goin’ to be suspicious, huh?
Shut up, she mentally told his face. It’s not my fault if they’ve got something to be paranoid about.
While they had their facial conversation, the girl heard the tapping of French-tipped fingernails on a plastic keyboard. She looked over to see the receptionist typing away at her computer, and she doubted the woman was actually searching for anything. “I’m not pulling anything up,” the woman said. Her voice sounded more plastic than it had before. “There’s a Frederick Grant, but no-one else with that surname.”
Jaelyn made a great show of sighing in exasperation. “I told you we should have checked Chrysalis Enterprises, not Aeon Gateway,” she huffed at Ruby, telling him with her eyes to play along. He stopped looking confused and instead took on a pouty look. “Sorry, ma’am. I guess we’ll just have to wait for her at school.”
Jaelyn grabbed his hand and steered him out the door. As she glanced back, she could swear the receptionist was glaring at them.

“She wasn’t there?”
Opal’s brows knitted together. They tended to do that a lot, but Jaelyn probably needed to stop giving her reasons to knit them.
“Naw,” said Ruby. As always, his sister recoiled when he spoke, giving him a frown. “But she should’ve been,” he continued, unphased. He was used to her abrasion. “That character didn’t look too happy when we brought her up.”
Jaelyn nodded. “Something’s up,” she agreed. “I definitely remember Carol saying she’d got an internship at Aeon. I made a beautiful pun then.”
“What pun?”
“The kind you don’t say aloud, or it’ll ruin the beauty,” she answered him in a flat, serious voice. She watched his eyes squint in playful irritation, and cracked a tiny smirk.
The three of them sat in silence for a while, Opal scooting closer to Jaelyn, Jaelyn pretending to ignore the barely-concealed hurt look in Ruby’s eyes.
“Jae, darlin’,” Ruby said, breaking the silence. His eyes were like the faintest glimmer of near-dead coals, defiant red in cracked black. “Why would Carol go missin’? Out of our whole group. The black mage,” he pointed at Opal, “the paladin,” he gestured at Jaelyn, and then at himself. “The thief. So they go after the white mage? It doesn’t make sense.”
Opal didn’t say anything, but the expression in her violet eyes looked like she was begrudgingly enjoying the term “black mage”.
“I don’t know,” Jaelyn answered. “I mean, when you put it like that, yeah…it doesn’t add up. But there’s other things to think about.”
He arched a brow. “Like what?”
“What exactly does Aeon Gateway specialize in?”
The two of them looked at each other for longer than a few moments. She was a little impressed, internally awarding herself the gold medal for “solving sibling rivalry for longer than ten seconds”.
“I don’t really know,” Ruby said with a frown. “I know it’s science stuff, but I never actually checked—”
“Lab experiments,” Opal interjected. “They conduct experiments. It’s speculated that there are things that go on in their deepest hidden secrets, but there have been several tours of all their known labs. The police—preternatural or otherwise—don’t have a warrant to search for any secret labs, and so far Aeon’s denied any existence of such a place, but no one really believes them. I’ve heard that they’re also the reason for some disappearances, but I don’t often listen to conspiracy theorists unless it’s relevant.”
“Experiments on humans?” Jaelyn asked, her voice unintentionally dark.
“It’s been speculated, but I don’t think it’s ever been proven.”
“’Course not. D’you think they’d still be in business if people knew they were ‘sperimentin’ on people?” Ruby looked at her again with those dying-ember eyes.
“If they are…” Jaelyn glared at the ground, noticing then that her fingers had been fiddling with the grass. “We have to get her out of there.”
Opal and Ruby looked at each other again, then nodded as one. So they could get along.
“Agreed,” Opal said.
Ruby gave Jaelyn his trademark crooked grin. “Sounds like we got our first case.”