Marie was of the first to leave, collecting herself and all that she had brought, ensuring that Gwyneth’s eye was still on her person. As she stepped through the door, Holt stopped her.
”Perhaps you should give the boy some method of contact. Remember that ‘twas he that lead you to the eye. He could be a valuable asset.”Marie thought on this for a moment. She had put him through so much already, but Holt was right. If Ben identified the first of Gwyneth’s many artifacts, who’s to say he couldn’t do the same with all of them? She rifled through her long coat, pulling out charms of all descriptions. She stopped once she found a simple copper ring.
Marie took the ring and showed it to Holt, who knew her intent. He place his wispy claw on the ring, engraving a strange symbol therein. Marie then spoke softly to the ring:
”Thrice about the finger turn’d, With heart’s desire in silent prayer;
Sense and senses then be spurned, Conjures thee this spirit of air .”
She turned back to Ben, presenting him with the ring.
”Should you ever wish to contact me to talk about what happened here, just twist this ring around your finger three times and think of something you’d like to say me. My familiar, Holt, will appear to you and you can communicate through him. I wish I could give you something a little simpler, but I can’t risk anyone knowing who I am. Take care.” With that, Marie and Holt left the storage room, passed through the witchcraft exhibit, filed down the stairs on the outside of the building, and disappeared into the crowded streets of New York, off to find a door to The Red Devil.
When Marie dropped the ring into his hand, Ben gave her a look. One that screamed he found it hard to believe this little ring would contact her. The woman seemed unconcerned about his thoughts as she began to move away, informing him about how to invoke its purpose. Shortly her and the bizarre scent that wafted in her wake vanished into the museum, leaving him alone with the twins.
Curiously he held the simple copper ring between his forefinger and thumb then examined it a moment. Finding nothing really abnormal about it, he took a breathe and placed it upon his left middle finger for safe keeping. Still wrapped within the itchy tarp, he became gradually aware that he was still naked in front of two older woman and tried to ignore it before it could gain momentum into anxiety. He carefully lowered it to primarily cover his lower extremities from sight then addressed the twins.
“You two should get out of here. I’m not sure how the agency will react to two additional wolves, and I don’t really feel like explaining you on top of what I’m doing naked here to Corpse. He’s also going to want to know what happened to the Skyler I’m suppose to have met before everything went to shit into a handbag,” Benjamin noted a headache coming on from just the thought as he rubbed his temple with his free hand. The other one bunched it near his waist and had it fixed in place, his torso from navel to head exposed to the twins.
Yeong and Ji, much to his relief, understood then nodded. The brown haired one paused then reminded him that her number was in his room when he got home and if he needed her, he was welcomed to call her any time.
“Sure but might be a bit hard because I don’t have a phone anymore,”he pretty much bit back a groan over the sight of the broken thing, his figure bent over and hand scooped it up from the ground. It obvious would get no future use until it was repaired,
“However, I’ll keep it in mind. Right now, you’re wasting time. My ride should be here soon.” It took two hours before someone from the agency came to pick him up. Zachery walked in, with the clothes from the Raptor Pack in hand, as he presented the items for him to put on. Ben immediately narrowed his eyes in suspicion. His arm reached to retrieved the clothing and then inquired about Corpse’s absence, clearly expecting the emaciated guardian to have shown up instead. Zachery inhaled drawing red flags in his instincts as his foot took a step back.
Stay calm… stay calm...Ben told himself, his arm set the clothes on a half empty shelf holding display props.
“I’m Zachery Memphis and will be your new guardian. Your prior caretaker won’t be coming back. Angelo’s recommendations weren’t enough and after failing this trial assignment due to negligence in your care, he’s chosen to be reassigned to another department. So try not to give me a hard time, kay kid?” Zachery’s hand reached out to touch Ben’s shoulder.
Sensing the gesture, the teenager’s hand flipped back to smack his kindness away. The sharp sound echoed through the room causing the individuals to stand motionless. Zachery’s arm retracted back to his side while he turned on heel, his last words called back on exiting,
“I’ll give you some time to adjust to the change and get clean up. We’ll leave here shortly, which I’ll explain how things will be going from this point out.” When the boy heard the door close, Ben felt all the tension go slack from his figure.
‘Why did I think he was any different? How could I have not realized when things got hard, he would take off?’He hated how the information Zachery delivered had managed to sucker punch him hard and unexpectedly where it hurt the most: his trust. For once, Ben had tried to do as Corpse had asked and for all his trouble… the man just walked away. He didn’t fight or seemed to give a shit about him, a fact shown through his actions. Now, he began to realise who was the fool all along. With a hollowness filling him, a familiar and defeated sensation of acceptance, Benjamin began to get dressed once more before he headed out of the room.
On the way out he caught a glimpse of an imp that had arrived earlier. He paused long enough to watch it scratch at a stubborn stain then jerk its head up and flashed him a toothy grin. Then it popped out of sight, leaving Ben to shake his head and continue out. During the drive home, he settled into the passenger seat silently as he stared across the drifting landscape. He had nothing to say and personally, he had no desire to dwell on what he should’ve saw coming.
“We’ve got a replica of your original phone, complete with a tracking system for when you get into trouble,” the agent explained, his eyes on the road while he pulled into the driveway. Ben assumed his parents had departed for another event and the loneliness seeped into his veins deeper causing his stomach to curl,
“If it breaks, I’ll be there quickly enough. Tonight I will be setting up a perimeter with several agents patrolling from your home to Hudson Valley, namely to make sure you stay in boundaries. This will prevent any local authorities from being hurt. We got lucky you merely took off but no idea if that's what you’ll do when you officially change.” While the man continued, Ben partly tuned him out and withdrew. He didn’t care to think about what came tonight or how he wouldn’t recall it until much later. After they pulled up, his figure quickly got out then snapped the door shut in Zachery’s face. Through the tinted windows, the agent frowned deep and back back into the driver’s seat.
Casually Ben walked his way back to his hell called his life.
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