Chapter 18

Read from the start here: Chapter One

Cam sat hunched over on a chair in the Den's only closed off room, an office that once belonged to Linden, dreading the inevitable moment that somebody would knock on the door. As he rested there, his elbows propping him upright and his face buried into his palms, he couldn't stop pondering over the day's events, and the weeks of work that had led to it. Dane had ruined his life and it started way, way back, before Cam had even met the man.

At fifteen years old, Cam had already lived in eleven different cities across Natalos, thanks to his mothers successful career as an artist. Short but boisterous, she was a tough woman who very few answered back to, and giving birth to two boys couldn't stop her from making it big in the world of paint and sculpture. The family ventured frequently from city to city, continent to continent and planet to planet before finally settling down on Gaia, in the city of Calcon, just a few days before Cam's sixteenth birthday.

School had always been a struggle for him and Cam blamed it on this nomadic lifestyle. For most of his early teenage years he lacked an ability to make friends and achieved underwhelming exam results, but deep down even Cam knew this was just an excuse. The true crux of the problem was his status as a Nomag. While a lot of his peers had been gifted with the ability to manipulate the energy around them, Cam had not and while these mutated people were now the norm, it was Cam and his ilk that were dragged down and treated like second class citizens. It was impossible to hide too, no matter how much Cam tried and every time his schoolmates inevitably found out, life in general became hell. He abandoned school upon arrival in Calcon and didn't look back.

Cam spent the next few months trying to get a legitimate job. His parents were not supportive of his leaving academia, and so they thought it best to kick him out, only helping him by giving him a small sum of money to pay rent on a small apartment in East Calcon, the cheapest quadrant of the city. Initially he tried his luck as a street vendor but he was never able to build up any rapport with the consumers who browsed his wares and this short stint only managed to get him into debt. Fortunately, one of his customers who pitied him managed to get him a job as an office assistant. This new role didn't satisfy him, and he stuck with it only long enough to pay off his debt, mostly because the creditors who were after him legitimately scared him. Once he was clear of them and in the black once more, Cam quit the job and spent the next two months struggling to find another.

One winter morning, cowering beneath his quilt, Cam decided he'd had enough. The bitter chill that came from not being able to pay a heating bill tempted him to crawl back to his parents, to grovel for forgiveness and get a warm room and a hot meal once again, but his stubbornness wouldn't let him. There had to be another way...

At first it was a couple of everyday essentials from the local supermarket, taken while shopping for legitimate purchases, but soon it was personal items snatched from people at bars while they were drunk, and eventually it turned into stealing cold hard cash wherever he could get away with it. He mastered the art of pickpocketing in a few weeks, and the busy squares and crowded clubs he frequented were his new office space. The truth was, nothing else had provided him with the satisfaction that this new activity did, and he realised that this path was meant for him, not only because it finally gave him a steady albeit risky income, but he was incredibly good at it.

Linden's first appearance came pretty soon after this new alteration in his life. Cam was out doing one of his pickpocket runs across the busy marketplace areas in South Calcon when he found his hand snatched mid steal by an older man. This wasn't a first for Cam; he'd been caught out before, but usually his alertness and preparedness allowed him to run before they even got a good look at him. A couple of times somebody had grabbed him, but Cam was a wily, slip of a boy and could wriggle out of the grip, or thrash around until he found an opening that let him escape.

Upon being grabbed, Cam whipped his head round to face his detainer and immediately tried the usual manoeuvres. This time though, the strangers grip was too strong. The older man had a surprising vigour about him. Instead of calling for the authorities though who were never far away during these events, Linden dragged him somewhat easily to a quieter area, away from the crowds. Once they had a bit of space, he looked Cam dead in the eyes and asked him a question, as calmly as a windless sky.

“Why did you choose to steal from me?”

“My family is starving.”

Linden paused, furrowing his brow and squinting his eyes, looking deeper into Cam's, making him feel uncomfortable.

“Why are you lying to me?”

“I'm not!”

“Your family is fine. You don't live with them any more do you?”

“What?” Cam replied, a little stunned at the old man's intuition. “Who the hell are you?”

“I know people like you. You're a Nomag.”

Cam rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, so what?” His tone was sulky and more childish than his age would imply. “Why do people like you always have to point that out! Why don't you just leave us alone so we can carry on with our miserable lives?”

Cam tried to tug his arm free but Linden refused to let go, instead clamping down harder. Cam felt genuine pain.

“Ow, let go of me!”

“You seem too troubled.”

“For what? I haven't done anything!”

“Hmm.” Linden gazed away in thought, just for a moment, but Cam was curious.

“What?!”

“We have a place for people like you. Nomags. Somewhere safe, but..”

“What place?” Cam's curiosity was peaked. Linden let go just a little and Cam savoured the slight release. He'd always wondered about the existence of a community for Nomags, though he'd never heard of one. “You're making it up.”

“I can hardly prove it to you while I'm standing here, but I guarantee it's real.” Linden's disapproving gaze lingered on Cam, and it was starting to make him uncomfortable. “The thing is, I'm not sure I should bring you there. You've already shown me you're a liar and a thief. It'd be like bringing manure to my home and trying to stop flies from following it there.”

Linden let Cam go, and with a sense of relief he immediately shrugged back a few metres, still facing the older guy. If this place was real, surely that would be good for him; to feel equality at last amongst people who suffered the same affliciton instead of being 'a scourge on society', though it could equally just be some sort of trap.

“If this place is real, what's it called?”

“It has no name.”

Cam debated this for a moment, curious as to how likely that such a group wouldn't have a name. It seemed unofficial, but maybe that was good. Why would targeted people want a bigger bullseye on their backs?

“Let's say it's real then.” Cam watched the old man's face for something, though not really sure of what that thing was. “If that's the case, I don't really think you'd turn me away otherwise you wouldn't have even mentioned it to me. So the real question is this; do I trust you?”

The man didn't respond. He simply looked very sternly at Cam, who now carefully considered him. He wasn't that old, Cam guessed maybe fifty five to sixty years of age, and he had hard lines all over his face, possible evidence of a difficult life of labour. That would certainly be true if he was a not a magical energy user...

“Are you a Nomag too?” Cam queried.

Linden replied with a single nod.

“Then take me there and I'll see it for myself. But you have to keep at least ten metres in front of me the whole way. I don't want to be ambushed.”

* * *

Two days later, Cam met Dane for the very first time. Far from being a disaster, the first contact between them was amicable. In fact, Cam remembered thinking that the two might become friends from it. Dane's attitude struck him as quite unique; the guy just didn't seem to get bothered by anything and this intrigued Cam's younger mind. It led to him trying to spend a lot of time in his presence, but the kinship wasn't to be.

So it was that many years later when Linden announced he was to step down and wished for someone to take over his position, Cam eagerly submitted his nomination, but it was others who suggested Dane do the same. If it hadn't been for them, Cam wouldn't have had to go through all of this trouble.

Thus, when it came to Dane's absence this morning, Cam decided that his next course of action would be to not act at all. He knew he'd be blamed for what happened, but as long as he kept to his plan and didn't waste time pretending he knew nothing, then the group wouldn't have time to stop him before it was too late.

Puncturing his thoughts suddenly was a loud thumping that came from the other side of the office door. Cam shrunk back in his chair and wondered if he should ignore it. The thumping returned, three solid bangs of fist against metal, and he thought it might have been Radar's work. He pictured the larger man and suddenly felt a lot more nervous.

Knowing he couldn't hide in here forever, Cam took a stammered breath to psyche himself up and walked towards the door, reaching it just as another set of thuds echoed inside the tiny room.

“Patience!” He yelled, masking his feelings with a fake outraged tone. Cam slid the bolt towards the door and pulled the whole thing open.

Stood there just outside his office, facing him with looks of contempt and viciousness, were several of the Den's members. Radar was indeed at the head of the pack, but beside him were Twitch, Hammer, Alexander, Fenwick and several others who had clearly been swept up into this without particularly wanting to. Radar immediately broke the silence.

“We wan' a word with you.”

“Well, as you can see I'm rather busy right now...” Cam replied, sweeping his arm towards his empty office. The sarcasm flew right over Radar's head.

“We know it was you.” Radar stormed past Cam and took position in the middle of the room, crossing his arms. “Dane's never come back late before and we know he's not the type to get himself caught. Besides, you were seen leavin' the Den this mornin' about an hour before Dane's supposed job took place.”

'Damn those observant bastards.' He muttered internally. Not that being seen leaving was a total surprise to him, nor did it really matter in the end, but in these lesser intelligent specimens minds that would definitely be enough evidence to fully suspect Cam was at fault, so his selling of his innocence would be a lot more difficult.

“Now hold on. Are you accusing me of having something to do with Dane's disappearance?” Cam said, knowing that even though they couldn't be persuaded of their judgement, that he had to stall for time.

“Don't play games Cameron, you had nothin' scheduled today. We checked. So there was no reason for you to be outside this mornin'.” Radar took a menacing step towards Cam. “Now, are we supposed to believe that it is a coincidence that you were out the very same time that Dane vanishes?”

“Well that would be my defence yes, it was a complete coincidence. Not an unhappy one, for you all know my feelings towards our 'leader', but it is in fact a genuine lining up of events that are completely separate from one another.”

Radar smirked.

“Is that all you've got to say?”

“Well you did only ask me the one question.”

The smirk vanished.

“What did you do to him?”

“I'm afraid I did nothing of the sort you're thinking of. Now, I don't need to remind you of the rules, but I'm the guy in charge of this place until Dane returns, so unless you have some proof of this wild accusation...” Cam slowed down, putting on a display of confusion. “Actually, what exactly are you accusing me of?”

“Gettin' Dane arrested or killed.”

“Hmm, interesting.” Cam rubbed his chin in a mocking manner. “Well, unless you have proof of this conspiracy other than somebody seeing me walk through a door, I'm afraid we have nothing more to say, for the rules-”

“F**k the rules! You're not in charge of anythin' here any more. We're officially mutinyin'.”

“Are we suddenly on board a pirate ship?”

“Be a smart arse all you want. Whatever it's called, we're removin' you from office.” A sinister smile followed.

All of a sudden, the group was distracted by a knock on the door. Not the one attached to the office though, but the one at the entrance to the Den itself.

“Oh, that might be Dane now. Why don't we go and see for ourselves? Then perhaps you can apologise for your mistaken accusations and perhaps we can all get along once again.”

Cam pushed through the group, making sure he was at the front of the pack who immediately started following him towards the front door. He began to sweat, hoping and praying that the person at the door was who he thought it was.

As he reached it, he took hold of the handle and tugged at it with force, due to the doors thickness and heavy weight. Behind it, a rather timid looking man wearing a wax jacket and with at least a weeks worth of scruffy stubble on his gaunt face. He also wore glasses which he held with one hand while the other rested in his pocket. The stranger seemed surprised to see so many faces observing him at once, and his eyes widened. It was clear that of these many faces, only one recognised him.

“Ah, there you are.” Cam spoke with glee, as he ushered the nervous man inside while turning to face the confused audience “I've been waiting for you. Gentlemen of the Den, this is my friend Connor. He's one of those Magi we keep ourselves distant from. Now Radar, what about this 'mutiny' you were talking about?”