When All is Null and Void

Chapter Nine

"I need you to remove your shirt," Peggy said.

Even though it was two adult women and a middle aged man in the room, Caleb shrank in embarrassment as he unbuttoned his shirt. He was small and already starting to shiver. When Peggy jabbed his arm, he tried not to shiver. He held back a gag as his blood left the vein. Peggy hadn't taken much, but Caleb's head swam as the needle dislodged.

Rhea set up a small, stainless steel bowl on one of the tables and dropped Caleb's ring into the center of it. Peggy took the syringe and pressed down on it. A steady stream of red fell from the needle onto the ring. The air seemed to whine with a high pitched hum as the blood came into contact with the ring. Caleb could have sworn the gold was luminescent now, vibrant in the same way the towers of the Museum were. Illuminating the room.

"Do you hear that?" Alexander said, scratching at his left ear. He was smirking at, and Caleb stifled a laugh.

"Please be quiet," Rhea said. She was far kinder than Peggy, who was glaring.

Alexander held up his hands. "Right, sorry." He looked at Caleb and whispered behind his hand, "Holy moment."

Caleb snorted and forced it to sound like a huffing cough. The whine in the air grew in fervor, slowly sliding up in pitch until it disappeared. "Alexander, it's your turn," Peggy said.

Alexander sauntered over. He seemed slightly miffed about picking the ring up out of the bloody mess, but he placed it between his palms and squeezed until his knuckles turned white. He grunted ever-so-slightly, and then released the pressure. The blood that should have caked his palms was gone. His hands were clean, and the ring was a shining star in his palm. He tossed the band to Caleb, who caught it. "Put it on," Alexander said.

And Caleb did.

A rush of pleasure coursed through him. Warmth in every part of him, rushing to his core, and settling in his stomach. The ring on his hand started to thrum in time with his heart. Thump. Thump. Thump. When he exhaled, the breath out of his mouth seemed hotter than normal. He knew it was impossible, but he wondered if perhaps a fire had alit somewhere in his body.

The dull ache usually present in his leg was gone. In fact, he could stand a little bit straighter. He jumped. "Ooh," he said, a giggle rising up in his gut. "What happened?"

"The ring strengthens your bones, healing anything that might keep you from being in peak condition," Rhea said. She was leaned up against the table a few feet away.

"But my eyes aren't healed?" he said. He'd worn corrective lenses for years, ever since the fourth grade when he'd been unable to see the board and his grades had started to falter.

"The ring doesn't affect the eyes because it's not an ailment. They've simply adapted to visualizing things closely. You've got the eyes of a scholar, and there's nothing wrong with that." Caleb wasn't sure how Peggy could make a good thing sound like a reprimand, but Caleb bit his lip. Peggy walked across the room and pulled a pair of glasses from a case. They were thick around the eyebrow contour and thin around the lenses, which were circled.

Alexander came close to Caleb and stared directly into his eyes. "I forgot you needed glasses," he said.

Caleb frowned.

Peggy bumped the man out of the way. "These are your new glasses. We had them made for you. You can leave the corrective lenses with me," Peggy said.

Caleb popped the lenses out without an issue. He didn't need to wash his hands because the lenses kept the eye sanitized, and even left residue after removal to keep the eye healthy for a twenty-four hour period. No eye-diseases would afflict him.

Alexander looked as if he'd contracted some sort of disease, though. His skin paled, and he shivered, and when Caleb looked at him inquiringly, the man said, "I hate the idea of stuff in my eyes. I've only ever worn glasses."

Peggy handed Caleb the frames, and he slid them on. The world wasn't quite as clear as through the ones that connected directly to the eye. The area underneath the lenses was blurry, but otherwise Caleb could make do with that. Peggy shook her head, though, and asked for the frames again. She adjusted them slightly, using a tiny screwdriver from her pocket. She wiped the lenses off using the hem of her shirt and then handed the frames back. They were tighter on his head and felt far more secure. Peggy was seemingly satisfied too. She nodded her head.

Alexander clapped his hands together. "Well, then! Shall we get going?"

"Going?" Caleb's stomach fluttered nervously. Of course this was what he was here for, but he thought there might be more to it than this. Perhaps some paperwork. More than sticking him with needles and blood sacrifices, handing him a pair of new glasses, and sending them off on their merry way.

"Well, yeah," Alexander said. "That is the point of all this... I don't see a reason to hang around any longer." He lolled his head to look at Peggy and Rhea, and Caleb thought the man rather resembled an overgrown toddler. "Do you?"

"You're free to go whenever," Peggy replied. She deferred to Rhea.

"Yes," she said. "We'll be checking in from time to time to make sure you're learning properly." She smiled and gestured to Alexander. "Go ahead."

"Always a pleasure to see you," Alexander said. And suddenly he was gripping Caleb's arm around the bicep. "It's best to just get it over with," he said with a sideways glance at Caleb.

If a melon baller had been used to scoop the innards of Caleb's stomach out, it probably would have been a more pleasant experience for his gut than the next few moments. In fact, it was almost as if Caleb had misplaced his stomach entirely. He could feel Alexander's tight grip on his bicep, but he couldn't feel much else. His body was oddly weightless, and somehow it was snowing. He had prepared his mind ever-so-slightly to experience Hopping again, but this was more intense, more visceral.

The snow was shards of light which whirled around in a maelstrom, blurring Caleb's vision. He could hardly see the tip of his nose, let alone Alexander's hand still gripping like a vice. The world was bright enough he might have squinted if he could have.

The experience ended so abruptly it shook Caleb to the core.

The hospital-like room was gone, replaced by a gravel road. Trees were beyond that, but Caleb hardly noticed any of that before it all swam in front of him and the gravel became intimate buddies with his face.