When All is Null and Void

Chapter Thirty-Four

"You became friends with Danielle because she told you to, didn't you?"

"How did you know?" Caleb bit his lip.

Alexander smirked. "'What if Rhea James allowed it?'" He mimicked Caleb from the other day. "I've wondered if that's what happened, since you were so adamant about becoming friends with her. She's just a girl who's pretty, I thought at first. Then I started to wonder if maybe Rhea had an ulterior motive."

"I sort of told Danielle about all of this too..." Caleb said.

"Caleb!" Alexander shot from the bed.

"She told me to..." Caleb said. "I had to."

"You're not even sixteen," Alexander said. "She wouldn't hurt you. She's not a monster. You just tell her no."

"She took your daughter," Caleb replied. He was still sitting on the bed, and his hand still ached with pain. Alexander rifled through a drawer in the bathroom and tossed him tube of Aloe Vera. Even in his anger Alexander was still looking out for Caleb. This made him feel guiltier.

Alexander sat in front of Caleb, placed his hands on his shoulders. "Look me in the eyes when I tell you this."

Caleb did. The stormy gray of his irises pulled him in.

"Since Danielle already knows, we're going to be very upfront with what it entails. We're going to tell her she might have a connection to the Void. And when Danielle is faced with the choice, as I'm sure she will be, we'll give her the chance to say no."

"I can work with that..."

"But I forbid you from Hopping with Danielle alone. You're not allowed to take her anywhere else unless I'm present."

Caleb's expression must have been mutinous, because he felt heat rise to in his cheeks. "You're forbidding me from doing it? Rhea told me I ought to." Caleb really wished he had a shirt on at that moment. He felt maybe he might have more of an argument if he were properly dressed.

"And she seems like the best person to take advice from?" Alexander groaned, rubbed his temples.

"I mean... probably not."

"Why did you lie to me?" Alexander was suddenly very serious and appraising Caleb deeply.

It wasn't a question Caleb was meant to answer, but he did anyways, and he was unsure where the hint of hostility had come from. "You know why I didn't say anything?" he stood up to be on the same level as his mentor, even if he was a foot shorter. "Because for the first time in my life I have a friend who cares about me, and likes me, and enjoys me. Danielle is the best friend I've ever had, and it's evident."

Alexander whirled on Caleb. "And what am I?"

"What do you mean, what am I?" Caleb asked, his own voice raising. "You're not my best friend. You're like my dad. That's two different things. You don't think that means something?"

"I'm not your dad," Alexander replied, softer. "I'm your mentor. I'm teaching you to Time Hop."

"Oh yeah, because I haveparents. I have parents waiting for me back in my time, who didn't just walk out one day and never looked back." Caleb wasn't sure what they were arguing about now, but his eyes prickled with angry tears. "You know why I woke you up tonight? Because I knew I could."

Alexander looked blindsided.

"I don't even remember them. But you're already better than them. Because you wouldn't just walk away."

Alexander pulled Caleb into his arms, and Caleb broke down. He didn't want to. Didn't mean to, but his mentor's hug was too much. He felt stress fall off him as the calm heartbeat of his mentor pulsed against his ear. They stayed there for a while, until Caleb pulled himself together.

"I'm going back to bed. I'll see you tomorrow."

Alexander let him go. "See you tomorrow."

+++

Caleb was lying in bed twenty minutes later unable to sleep. He had gotten so good at keeping his parents out of his mind. Now they floated in the forefront, stabbing him with their betrayal.

Well after three in the morning, Danielle shouldn't have been away, but he had a steady stream of message from the last twelve hours. They were all questions; he could tell without having to read past the most recent. He sent on message in return:

I'll answer every question you have. GO TO BED.

He threw his phone onto the dresser and it bounced, skid, and slid onto the floor. He grabbed it, hoping it hadn't broken. When he saw everything was okay, he sighed. Then looked around his room with the realization he was acting idiotically, on his hands and knees, staring at his phone. To make a point--if only for the nonexistent audience in the room--he left the phone on the ground and climbed into bed.