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Description
CHAPTER THREE

I sat on the roof of the building and waited for the thirteen to arrive. I hadn’t seen some of them in years, but most of them I knew very well. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to see them all, but I figured that Cato would help me find out how I could. I knew that it was a stroke of luck that had me looking at Cato in the first place.
I looked down at the mirror I had brought up with me in order to talk to Cato and maybe a few others.
Why are they appearing? I haven’t said their real names; I don’t even know what they are! Is this a side effect of Zane being taken away? His power to keep us on one plane is fading? I thought.
Sssss…
I looked up as Cato arrived. I knew it was Cato, because his fedora and trench coat were actually visible. But the rest of him was missing. I turned the mirror toward him and the rest of him appeared, like a strange game. He reminded me of a movie I watched with Joseph, called the Invisible Man. I didn’t much like it.
“It’s getting more apparent. It’s getting harder to hide.” His voice sounded clearer, and I started to see the beginnings of a tie and a white shirt under the tan trench coat, but no body formed.
This is strange. When I appeared, it hurt so badly, and I was naked. Why are they coming up clothed?
“Are the others close?” I asked softly, laying the mirror on the wall that separated me from the ground below. I sighed. There were just too many questions.
“Somewhat, they seem to be having trouble appearing in random places, so some actually had to travel a little. They can’t make long distances anymore; they have to appear in short spurts.” I watched as the trench coat paced back and forth in front of me. Cato was nervous. I could sense the electricity in the air, and feel the tension like a fog over my brain.
Sssss…
I looked over to my left near a broken up greenhouse, and heard footsteps crunch awkwardly in what looked like high heels, judging from the foot prints in the rocky ground coming towards me. I heard the swish of fabric over skin, and looked at Cato’s trench coat.
“Is it Iris?” I asked him.
The fedora nodded. I started to see ginger hair around the edges of Cato’s head, and the pants he was wearing started to become more apparent. His shoes were black and shiny.
“I’m starting to see more of you Cato. Do you feel yourself changing?” I asked. I remembered my own transformation from one world to the next. The painful ripping of my spirit into a different plane. But he wasn’t writhing or screaming in agony, he was pacing back in forth in precise circles around the roof top.
“No. Maybe a little tingling, but nothing more. Iris is changing too. She says she feels the same, can you not hear her?” Cato asked.
I listened closely, but I heard nothing. I stepped closer to the shoe prints in the gravel of the roof floor, and heard mumbling. But barely audible, like a television turned down really low. I reached toward the sound, and found my hand on the abdomen of a woman covered in silk. I felt a hand against my upper arm, and felt long nails digging into the flesh. I looked at the ground where her feet should be. But I saw nothing.
“I can feel you Iris, but I can barely hear you.” Her hands receded from my flesh, and I felt her move away.
Sssss…
“Who comes now?” I asked Cato. His shirt collar was becoming visible. I looked over to where the noise had come from, and saw what looked to be like a little fuzzy fog of something. It was shapeless, but had a dark pigment to it, and I saw it walk towards me.
“It’s Pietro.” Cato said quietly. I looked in front of me and saw a red filmy something where Iris was standing. Her dress was becoming real. I heard a few words, but nothing I could make out.
I looked to the cloud again, and watched it walk towards me. I moved away from it, and saw that as it got closer, I could make out a face. It was an older face, older than Cato, but not too old. More like a great uncle. His hair was a silver cloud over his brow, and the suit was a dark grey.
He smiled.
I smiled back. “Hello Pietro.” I said. I saw his mouth form the words “hello” back at me, but I could hear nothing.
I heard more of the hissing behind me, and saw two more figures appear. It was Lorelei and Deirdre, both wearing the same dark business suits. I smiled at them as well. They were nearly solid, but were a little foggy around the edges. The only difference between them was that Lorelei had red hair that could not be tamed, and was dancing around her head like living flames, and Deirdre had short black hair pulled behind her ears.
If not for the hair styles, they could be twins. They were often found together. It was a closeness none of the other thirteen could share.
I looked at the previous arrivals, and started to see that as more of the Grey’s appeared, the more you could see the ones that were already here. I could nearly see the outer framework of glasses on the end of Pietro’s nose, and Iris’ dress was becoming more defined, and you could see that it was spaghetti strapped and glittery in the moonlight. Cato was nearly completely visible, except for his face.
“Lorelei, Deirdre, thank you and welcome.” I said. They walked towards me, and grabbed each of my hands with one of their own. They smiled at me and said things that I couldn’t hear. But I could follow their meaning enough to see that they had missed me.
I wondered if the news I had for them would change the way that they saw their relationship, or if it would change it at all. I didn’t know if they loved each other, but I knew that Grey’s weren’t supposed to love, and that these two were definitely something to each other.
Strike one Zane; you were wrong again…I thought, smiling at each of them.
I heard more of them appearing, and turned to see that as they arrived, both Pietro and Iris were completely solid, except for various missing pieces. Cato was still missing his facial features, and his hands.
Gideon, Amador, Faust and Magnus all arrived one after the other. Gideon was taller than all of them, and curved over them like a willow branch. He was dressed in the attire of a sad business man. Sad, because of his face, and business because he wore a suit that was tailored to fit him and carried a large briefcase.
Faust walked over to me and shook my hand. He was blurry around his face, but I felt his grip around my fingers. His shirt was unbuttoned, and his collar rumpled, but his slacks were pressed, and his black hair in the tight coils I remembered all too well.
I could not see Magnus, but I knew it was him because of his smell. He didn’t smell badly, but he smelled like an elderly silver I took to white. He wore what was called Bay Rum. It was sweet, and it made me feel comfortable inside. Magnus was very much like an older grandfather. He was still just an outline, but he was forming quickly. Right before my eyes I saw that he had a neatly trimmed beard, and his hair was blowing white. His suit was pinstriped blue, and he wore a red tie.
Amador was the one that always unnerved me. He was a small boy. Somewhere around thirteen or fourteen years old. He wore a red jacket, blue jeans, and brown sneakers, but his eyes were what made you look again. Amador was the oldest of any of the Greys. He was supposedly found right after Zane. Amador’s eyes were old. Older than time, older than water, older than humans were alive. I didn’t know whether or not he was created with eyes so old as to make the others believe that we were once real people, or if he really was that old. But I knew that the one here that I couldn’t trust all too well, who might fool me in my mission, was a little less than five feet tall.
I heard Willa appear over my right shoulder, and much more than I wanted to, I turned my back on Amador’s old eyes, and went to greet her. I saw that Dmitri had appeared behind her, and was rushing up to my side.
I smiled quickly at him and hugged him close when he ran up to me. He looked exactly as I remembered him. Tall and boyishly handsome with a mop of brown hair nearly covering his eyes. He wore a pair of brown slacks and a white dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves.
“I’m so glad to see you!” I pulled away quickly and looked at him.
“I can hear you!” I said.
“Can you really?” This was from Iris, who put a jeweled hand to her throat. She tossed her black hair over her shoulder, and gasped.
“Willa, how have you been?” I asked her. She was also like Magnus and Pietro, much older looking. She wore black slacks and a white blouse, but she had steel grey hair that was pulled in a bun on the back of her head. She was as grandmotherly as a toadstool, and looked at me with a mixture of frustration and toughness that she usually directed at me. She followed the rules by the book, and didn’t appreciate it when things weren’t going her way.
“Medina, enough riff-raff, what have you done? Why are we suddenly visible? Where the hell is Zane?” She let the words fly, and I suddenly wished that I couldn’t hear her.

Description
CHAPTER THREE

I sat on the roof of the building and waited for the thirteen to arrive. I hadn’t seen some of them in years, but most of them I knew very well. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to see them all, but I figured that Cato would help me find out how I could. I knew that it was a stroke of luck that had me looking at Cato in the first place.
I looked down at the mirror I had brought up with me in order to talk to Cato and maybe a few others.
Why are they appearing? I haven’t said their real names; I don’t even know what they are! Is this a side effect of Zane being taken away? His power to keep us on one plane is fading? I thought.
Sssss…
I looked up as Cato arrived. I knew it was Cato, because his fedora and trench coat were actually visible. But the rest of him was missing. I turned the mirror toward him and the rest of him appeared, like a strange game. He reminded me of a movie I watched with Joseph, called the Invisible Man. I didn’t much like it.
“It’s getting more apparent. It’s getting harder to hide.” His voice sounded clearer, and I started to see the beginnings of a tie and a white shirt under the tan trench coat, but no body formed.
This is strange. When I appeared, it hurt so badly, and I was naked. Why are they coming up clothed?
“Are the others close?” I asked softly, laying the mirror on the wall that separated me from the ground below. I sighed. There were just too many questions.
“Somewhat, they seem to be having trouble appearing in random places, so some actually had to travel a little. They can’t make long distances anymore; they have to appear in short spurts.” I watched as the trench coat paced back and forth in front of me. Cato was nervous. I could sense the electricity in the air, and feel the tension like a fog over my brain.
Sssss…
I looked over to my left near a broken up greenhouse, and heard footsteps crunch awkwardly in what looked like high heels, judging from the foot prints in the rocky ground coming towards me. I heard the swish of fabric over skin, and looked at Cato’s trench coat.
“Is it Iris?” I asked him.
The fedora nodded. I started to see ginger hair around the edges of Cato’s head, and the pants he was wearing started to become more apparent. His shoes were black and shiny.
“I’m starting to see more of you Cato. Do you feel yourself changing?” I asked. I remembered my own transformation from one world to the next. The painful ripping of my spirit into a different plane. But he wasn’t writhing or screaming in agony, he was pacing back in forth in precise circles around the roof top.
“No. Maybe a little tingling, but nothing more. Iris is changing too. She says she feels the same, can you not hear her?” Cato asked.
I listened closely, but I heard nothing. I stepped closer to the shoe prints in the gravel of the roof floor, and heard mumbling. But barely audible, like a television turned down really low. I reached toward the sound, and found my hand on the abdomen of a woman covered in silk. I felt a hand against my upper arm, and felt long nails digging into the flesh. I looked at the ground where her feet should be. But I saw nothing.
“I can feel you Iris, but I can barely hear you.” Her hands receded from my flesh, and I felt her move away.
Sssss…
“Who comes now?” I asked Cato. His shirt collar was becoming visible. I looked over to where the noise had come from, and saw what looked to be like a little fuzzy fog of something. It was shapeless, but had a dark pigment to it, and I saw it walk towards me.
“It’s Pietro.” Cato said quietly. I looked in front of me and saw a red filmy something where Iris was standing. Her dress was becoming real. I heard a few words, but nothing I could make out.
I looked to the cloud again, and watched it walk towards me. I moved away from it, and saw that as it got closer, I could make out a face. It was an older face, older than Cato, but not too old. More like a great uncle. His hair was a silver cloud over his brow, and the suit was a dark grey.
He smiled.
I smiled back. “Hello Pietro.” I said. I saw his mouth form the words “hello” back at me, but I could hear nothing.
I heard more of the hissing behind me, and saw two more figures appear. It was Lorelei and Deirdre, both wearing the same dark business suits. I smiled at them as well. They were nearly solid, but were a little foggy around the edges. The only difference between them was that Lorelei had red hair that could not be tamed, and was dancing around her head like living flames, and Deirdre had short black hair pulled behind her ears.
If not for the hair styles, they could be twins. They were often found together. It was a closeness none of the other thirteen could share.
I looked at the previous arrivals, and started to see that as more of the Grey’s appeared, the more you could see the ones that were already here. I could nearly see the outer framework of glasses on the end of Pietro’s nose, and Iris’ dress was becoming more defined, and you could see that it was spaghetti strapped and glittery in the moonlight. Cato was nearly completely visible, except for his face.
“Lorelei, Deirdre, thank you and welcome.” I said. They walked towards me, and grabbed each of my hands with one of their own. They smiled at me and said things that I couldn’t hear. But I could follow their meaning enough to see that they had missed me.
I wondered if the news I had for them would change the way that they saw their relationship, or if it would change it at all. I didn’t know if they loved each other, but I knew that Grey’s weren’t supposed to love, and that these two were definitely something to each other.
Strike one Zane; you were wrong again…I thought, smiling at each of them.
I heard more of them appearing, and turned to see that as they arrived, both Pietro and Iris were completely solid, except for various missing pieces. Cato was still missing his facial features, and his hands.
Gideon, Amador, Faust and Magnus all arrived one after the other. Gideon was taller than all of them, and curved over them like a willow branch. He was dressed in the attire of a sad business man. Sad, because of his face, and business because he wore a suit that was tailored to fit him and carried a large briefcase.
Faust walked over to me and shook my hand. He was blurry around his face, but I felt his grip around my fingers. His shirt was unbuttoned, and his collar rumpled, but his slacks were pressed, and his black hair in the tight coils I remembered all too well.
I could not see Magnus, but I knew it was him because of his smell. He didn’t smell badly, but he smelled like an elderly silver I took to white. He wore what was called Bay Rum. It was sweet, and it made me feel comfortable inside. Magnus was very much like an older grandfather. He was still just an outline, but he was forming quickly. Right before my eyes I saw that he had a neatly trimmed beard, and his hair was blowing white. His suit was pinstriped blue, and he wore a red tie.
Amador was the one that always unnerved me. He was a small boy. Somewhere around thirteen or fourteen years old. He wore a red jacket, blue jeans, and brown sneakers, but his eyes were what made you look again. Amador was the oldest of any of the Greys. He was supposedly found right after Zane. Amador’s eyes were old. Older than time, older than water, older than humans were alive. I didn’t know whether or not he was created with eyes so old as to make the others believe that we were once real people, or if he really was that old. But I knew that the one here that I couldn’t trust all too well, who might fool me in my mission, was a little less than five feet tall.
I heard Willa appear over my right shoulder, and much more than I wanted to, I turned my back on Amador’s old eyes, and went to greet her. I saw that Dmitri had appeared behind her, and was rushing up to my side.
I smiled quickly at him and hugged him close when he ran up to me. He looked exactly as I remembered him. Tall and boyishly handsome with a mop of brown hair nearly covering his eyes. He wore a pair of brown slacks and a white dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves.
“I’m so glad to see you!” I pulled away quickly and looked at him.
“I can hear you!” I said.
“Can you really?” This was from Iris, who put a jeweled hand to her throat. She tossed her black hair over her shoulder, and gasped.
“Willa, how have you been?” I asked her. She was also like Magnus and Pietro, much older looking. She wore black slacks and a white blouse, but she had steel grey hair that was pulled in a bun on the back of her head. She was as grandmotherly as a toadstool, and looked at me with a mixture of frustration and toughness that she usually directed at me. She followed the rules by the book, and didn’t appreciate it when things weren’t going her way.
“Medina, enough riff-raff, what have you done? Why are we suddenly visible? Where the hell is Zane?” She let the words fly, and I suddenly wished that I couldn’t hear her.