MAXIM: A New Type of Human (Oddily Series #2) Read online

  MAXIM

  A New Type of Human

  Linda Pohring

  This is a book of fiction. All of the characters, organizations,

  and events portrayed in this novel either are products of the author’s

  imagination or are used fictitiously.

  MAXIM: A New Type of Human.

  Copyright © 2011 by Linda Pohring

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or

  transmitted in any form or by any means without permission of the author.

  For Bob, Nicole, and Danielle

  1

  Maxim drove the white Suzuki through the massive iron gates, unaware that he and Oddily were being followed. As their car disappeared into the private woods of Stafford Manor, Maxim became so riddled with worry about Oddily entering his world, he didn’t see Kip and Starla when they slipped inside the gates.

  They ran into the forest and remained hidden in the shadows, scarcely believing their good fortune. They had discovered where Maxim lived; and strangely enough, it happened by following the girl, Nexa.

  “Revenge is going to be sweet,” Kip smirked as he began to make his way through the thick foliage. “Remember to stay hidden until we find his house.”

  Starla refused to follow him. “Do you honestly expect me to go into those God forsaken woods?”

  When Kip ignored her, Starla had no choice but to chase after him until a curtain seemed to drop over the sun. One moment it was light; and the next, the woods became so dark she could hardly view her hand in front of her face. She became tense and jumpy, panicking when a twig snapped under foot, or a tree limb scraped at her shoulder.

  “Get me the hell out of here,” she finally stopped in her tracks.

  “Quit whining. His house can’t be much farther!”

  By the sound of Kip’s voice, Starla knew he did not intend to give up.

  “Come on—if I don’t get some fresh air soon, I’m going to die from suffocation!” Almost as soon as the words escaped Starla’s lips, a sound caused her to catch up with Kip.

  “Did you hear that,” she grabbed his arm, “and don’t blame it on cute little squirrels!”

  “Sshh, I’m listening.”

  Starla closed her mouth and huddled against Kip. Another sound erupted, only this time it was closer.

  “Who’s following us?” Kip glared at his surroundings, but nothing moved. He twisted his neck, trying in vain to make out something, anything, through the trees.

  Starla tried to call out this time, but her throat wouldn’t obey her mind. Her heart began to pound, her breath was hissing in and out and her nostrils were flaring like a wild animal sensing danger. Her eyes darted across the dark shadows but saw nothing. She stepped back and something wet grazed her ankle. This time she found her voice and screamed.

  “Shut the hell up!” Kip slapped his hand over her mouth.

  The noise happened again. Such a strange and eerie sound, as if something were waiting for them to participate in a cat and mouse game.

  “We need to start walking slowly.” Kip gave Starla a nudge to get her to move, and she did. She began by taking a step, then another. “That’s right—stay by my side.”

  Their measured movements lasted for only a few more minutes until it dawned on them that something inhuman was stalking them. It happened when they spotted a large shiny object closing in on them. They both hollered at once and ran for their lives.

  “Hey—wait for me!” Starla screamed, and for the first time, she sounded vulnerable and scared.”

  The two frantically pushed through the woods, trying to find their way out of the darkness, when they stumbled upon a clean cool river—a turbulent stream that looked menacing.

  “Hurry, we need to cross over to the other side!” Kip jumped out onto the closest rock and steadied himself.

  “I can’t!” Starla’s chest heaved from lack of air.

  “You have to! We need to get the hell out of here!”

  “Don’t remind me!” she shrieked.

  “Come on, babe…jump!” Kip turned to leap over onto the next rock.

  “No, wait!—I’m coming, I’m coming.”

  Starla jumped out onto the first stone, trying to be careful with her footing. She had grabbed onto Kip’s arm for extra support, and then followed him by hopping over to the next one. However, she wasn’t prepared for slippery rocks and stumbled.

  “Damn you, Kip—I almost fell in,” she complained with her, ‘I Hate You’ voice. “I can’t do this.”

  “Will you stop acting like a spoiled Princess for even one minute?!”

  “But I am a Princess, you stupid shit!”

  Kip began to mimic Starla’s high whiny voice. “Kip, I want this! Kip, I want that! It’s always about what I can do for you, and you’re driving me nuts!”

  “How dare you!” Starla started to fire off her own round of verbal abuse.

  Kip and Starla’s back and forth squabbling had distracted them from noticing the arrival of the android. When they did get a glimpse at what followed them, they were scarcely prepared for the astonishing sight. The thing stood near the embankment at a fair distance from the waters edge.

  “Oh my God!” Starla cried out with renewed panic.

  “What the hell!” Kip went slack jawed, but recovered quickly as he jumped the remaining rocks. However, in his haste to get to the other side of the river, he had knocked Starla off balance. She slipped and fell into the river, her upper torso still clinging to the rock.

  “Help!” she screamed as the currant tugged at her body. She was beginning to lose her handhold while Kip just stood there and stared at their pursuer. She tried to dig her fingers into the slippery stone, but the struggle was of no use. She lost her grip and the river dragged her under.

  Kip wanted to go after her, but his stunned mind wouldn’t allow him to move. All he could do was eye the robotic thing-a-ma-jig as it leaped over the river to take a stance in front of him. Kip didn’t care that he had wet his pants. He wasn’t able to think clearly enough to become embarrassed. The only thing on his mind was the smooth metal face that inched closer and closer as it inspected him. When they were nose to nose, Kip became horrorstruck by the eyes. Were they real? Then the unimaginable happened. The thing spoke, letting him know that he couldn’t escape! Kips eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed, buckling from the knees into a boneless sprawl on the ground.

  Starla whirled down the watercourse for several miles all the while flailing about, trying to stay afloat. She was drowning, and thought her existence would end at any moment, but wait! She bumped against something and grabbed hold, except the force of the current was too powerful. It caused the weight of her body to fight against her, and the object began to cut into her fingers. It forced her to let go. The water closed over her head as she whirled round and round in a downward spiral. She struggled to hold her breath while fighting for her life.

  Finally, she smashed against a fallen log blocking her from going further down stream. The tree limb made her rescue possible as she pulled herself out of the river. She dragged herself onto the embankment and rolled over on her back. Barely able to breathe, the water poured out of her mouth. She sputtered and choked while taking what air she could into her lungs.

  Starla felt a sharp pain in her leg and realized she had been hurt.

  “Oh crap,” she moaned, knowing that if she ended up with a scar, she would totally die!

  “Help me.” She made a feeble attempt to holler, but her voice sounded too weak. She cringed to think of herself all alone in the woods. What if a wild beast or something
came along and tried to eat her?

  Starla glanced around in all directions, feeling small and insignificant compared to the backdrop of the ancient forest. How weird to think of the humongous gnarled trees as hundreds of years old or at least she thought they were.

  This sense of unimportance sucked, so she decided to focus on being angry at Kip. After all, he had been the reason she fell into the river in the first place, so she began scheming on how to seek her revenge. The animosity beginning to rise in her while she plotted against him felt completely normal, so she relaxed a little with her hateful thoughts.

  Starla didn’t know how much time she had wasted with her mental meandering; but her anger had subsided, leaving her to face the pain in her leg as well as an uneasy sense of doom. She had been glancing around, hoping for some sign of help, when all of a sudden a beam of light resembling the rays from the sun broke through the canopy of trees not far from where she sat. Maybe a helicopter was illuminating the woods to find and rescue her. No, this wasn’t ordinary brightness. What she saw appeared to be soft and translucent. It was filled with chaotic dancing particles, meshing to create a dense formation of matter. She blinked hard in an attempt to clear her vision, but the molecular dance continued within this tunnel of brilliancy. Had she become delusional because of her injury?

  When the light dissipated, what remained was both astonishing and horrifying. Whatever had formed in the ray of light took on the formation of two human-like bodies curled up in fetal positions. Were they alive?

  Starla stayed breathlessly still, not moving a muscle while she gawked at them. Their backs were to her as they came to a standing position, and then stretched their tall, statuesque physiques like someone waking up. The male’s head was bald but couldn’t be old because of his lean and well toned torso. He could have easily passed as the poster boy for health and youthfulness.

  Starla watched while, very slowly, the male turned his head and looked over his shoulder at her. While he stared at her, the female companion had become a blur and disappeared into the woods.

  Starla blinked hard, wondering if she had imagined the companion. She couldn’t help but question if maybe she had gone crazy. No—crazy wasn’t the right answer, not with the male purposefully walking straight towards her. She stared at the way the light fabric of his long seamless robe bellowed from behind while the material clung to his front side. She tried to scoot back on her butt to get away from him as agonizing sounds of distress escaped her lips.

  The stranger from the beam of light hovered over her. Majestic and godlike, his presence was formidable. He had no facial or body hair whatsoever…including the absence of eyebrows. But what freaked her out the most was his skin.

  She tried calming herself; but his presence seemed to stir the air around them, charging it with a sense of foreboding. It briefly took her breath away and she couldn’t help but wonder where such a being had come from.

  “Why is your skin bluish, and how did you do that?” Starla pointed to the trees where he/they materialized.

  “To answer the first question, I’m thin skinned,” his deep, strong voice resonated like the roll of low thunder. “Concerning the other, consciousness converts back into energy, and then the physical body is needed no more. I did the reverse.”

  Starla didn’t understand a word he had said, but realized that his confession meant he was totally insane.

  “You are hurt.” With one sweeping motion, he hunkered down on one knee and went to touch Starla’s leg, but she squirmed to get away.

  “Don’t. Touch. Me!” she said each word with as much authority as she could muster. She tried to draw her leg up to her chest, but her movement caused too much pain. “If you lay one hand on me, I…I will…!”

  “You will what?” the stranger with the extraordinary face stared at her curiously. “Never mind, I will help you anyway.”

  Starla stared into his deep brown eyes and became transfixed while she mumbled, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

  Starla realized this would be a good time to avert her eyes, but she couldn’t get over how gorgeous this human was. Even without eyebrows, his large eyes mesmerized her, not to mention his chiseled face and full lips. His features were oddly familiar, but she wasn’t able to make a connection.

  The stranger unexpectedly laughed aloud, and Starla wondered if his sudden sense of humor had anything to do with her checking him out. Had she been too obvious? Did he know she thought he was hot? Was he comfortable with her staring at him?

  “You have behaved foolishly, venturing into places you do not belong,” he said, all the while studying her eyes and hair with considerable interest. “You are not a natural blonde.”

  “At least I have hair,” she snapped back.

  “It is unfortunate we have met this way. What brings you here?”

  “We…I…someone invited me here. My friend asked if I would follow him home, but I got lost.”

  “What does this friend look like?”

  “Well, he’s tall, has light blonde hair with sky blue eyes, and he has…”

  “…Full lips,” he finished Starla’s commentary.

  “Then you know him!”

  “Yes. Your description sounds like my son, Maxim.”

  Starla laughed despite the pain it caused her leg. “You have the right name, but the guy I’m referring to is a teenager like us.”

  “He is my son,” the stranger repeated with a knowing nod of his head.

  “Oh my God, you truly are crazy!” her beautiful eyes bulged in their sockets. “You’re going to hurt me, aren’t you!? No, don’t tell me—I don’t want to know.”

  “Stop and desist from your incessant chattering!” He spoke with a power previously unknown to her. “You fear harm will come to you, and yet you find me…hot.”

  “Oh my God—you are so full of yourself!”

  “Your nonsensical jabbering is bothersome; however, you are safe with me,” he assured her. Then he took her by the chin and encouraged her to gaze, once again into his eyes.

  Starla defiantly tried to stare him down, but that turned out to be a big mistake. She immediately and completely fell into the depths of this wondrous stranger’s large brown eyes much like an innocent fly captured in a spider’s web. Those hypnotic windows to his soul were drawing her deep into a void until he broke eye contact and cocked his head like a bird to listen. Suddenly, his neck snapped in the direction of a clump of bushes.

  “Sshh, we’re not alone!” he warned as he released her chin and stretched his torso to its towering height. He took a position between her and the area of the woods that drew his attention, and acted as though he were protecting a prized possession. On the other hand, maybe his stance was to guard over his prey. Starla shuddered at the last thought.

  2

  Maxim was unaware of the developing situation a few miles from Stafford Manor. His thoughts were solely on Oddily as he playfully whispered, “Close your eyes because we’re almost there.”

  Oddily did as he asked while trying to contain her excitement. After eighteen years, she was finally going to have a real home with a real boyfriend! There would be no more possibility of her falling through the cracks of the child welfare system, or the painful rejection she suffered due to the frequent moving.

  “Are we there yet?” she asked him in her childlike way.

  “Just up ahead.” Maxim found her eagerness to be contagious, and had to smile; but only for a moment. When he reached the Manor, his sister had parked Oddily’s green Smart car in front of the garage blocking his way to the secret underground roadway.

  Maxim glanced over at Oddily, whose eyes remained closed. She believed that he wanted to surprise her; but in truth, he needed to make sure his property gave up no secrets until he was ready to share them.

  “May I at least take a peek?”

  Oddily’s eyes flew open when she felt Maxim’s lips brush across hers, and she sucked in her breath after she eyed the enormous dilapidated Manor loomi
ng before her. It was a ghostly sight with its many turrets and towers—so unloving and foreboding. The place had long since started to take on the appearance of the landscape with overgrown shrubs, ferns, ivy, old dried up vines, and leaves.

  Maxim started to laugh at the expression on Oddily’s face. “You’re thinking this is where I live.”

  Maxim! The sound of Nexa’s voice was filled with frustration and unease, and he couldn’t blame her. This was their private world. No outsider had ever been invited to stay with them until now, and she wasn’t happy.

  Kip and Starla are here on the property!

  What?! Maxim’s jaw started to twitch. How can this be when I have been so careful?

  Evidently, I wasn’t, and I’m sorry.

  Where are they?

  The monitor’s show Tinley carrying Kip through the woods. The boy appears to be dead, and Starla is trying to stay afloat in the river but the current is strong. I’m heading in her direction right now.

  Maxim flung open the car door and turned to Oddily. “Promise me you will stay here and keep the doors locked until I get back!”

  “Sure, but where are you…going?”

  Oddily’s mood had turned glum after Maxim jumped out of the car and disappeared into the dark woods. His sudden departure made her uncomfortable, so she tried calming herself by focusing on her new home. She tried to imagine that it had been a nice place at one time despite the air of sadness that saturated it, a place that had been the scene for many lives played out. Then she frowned because it also felt as if ghosts of these lives lingered, which was probably why she heard so many rumors about the place. Could she really contemplate the scary thought of living there with Maxim?

  Suddenly, Oddily felt ashamed for her lack of gratitude and made herself focus on something else. She began to stare out the car window at the location where she had last seen Maxim. To her surprise, a girl with black spiky hair, appearing as though she were plucked from the future, stepped out of the woods and was heading right towards her. She came up to the passenger’s door and stared through the window. “Who are you?”