Secret Supernaturals: The Witch

On the Other Side

- WILLIAM -

"It's about time you finally got into our business, Liam. Don't you think so too?"

There was ice in his voice which matched his cold expression and this was the norm. Christopher Chase was known to most as the man who saved a dying family business and turned it into an empire. I knew him as a father who was trying his best, even if he can't be present and involved in his children's lives. There were just too many other things to do.

"I guess." I kept my voice as neutral as his, trying not to let my anger seep into my voice. We continued to walk silently through the long hallway. Someone would occasionally pass by us, stopping to greet my father before going back to their work.

"It's a good way to strengthen our father-son bond too. Seb and I-" Of course Sebastian would be mentioned. I tuned him out after that, focusing on walking forward instead. I had no intention of listening to my father rave about my brother. He stopped abruptly after a minute and put a finger to his ear. I watched his expression transition from mild annoyance to anger, then rage before he faced me again.

"I have to go, something came up. But since you’re already here.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sleek, black card.

“Just go straight, then, take a right at the end of the hall. The first door on the left is Arthur’s office, he will show you around." He placed the card in my hand and briskly walked back from where we came, leaving me alone in this unfamiliar place. Good talk like always, dad.

I stuffed the card into my pocket and started moving forward, following his quick directions. I've always known about the underground offices, though this was the first time that father ever took me with him. The walls were off-white, spotless, and immaculate, the complete opposite of what I've heard happens down here.

I finally reached the end of the hall and was about to turn the corner when a loud buzz made me stop in my tracks. I had a moment of panic, thinking that I set off some kind of alarm, but I soon realized that the buzz was coming from my pocket. I slowly started walking again, pulling my phone out and checking the screen before answering.

"What is it, Caldwell?" I could hear music blasting from a distance through the phone.

"Chase, I got the news. You busy?" Eric Caldwell replied with a tinge of urgency. I’d known him for a long time and we practically grew up together. His definition of news had always been broad, from petty school drama to actual relevant information and I learned not to take him too seriously over the years.

“If you’re still trying to get me to attend your party, then yeah. I’m very busy. Bye.” I replied casually, stopping in front of Uncle Arthur’s closed door. I could faintly see his outline through the frosted glass window, his body hunched in front of his computer. I raised my hand to knock on the door and was about to end the call when Eric spoke up again. “It’s about Althea.”

My hand faltered slightly for a second, but I quickly shook it off. It didn’t matter, she didn’t matter. I wanted nothing to do with her or anything about her. The less information I know about her, the better.

“So? I have to go. Don’t worry about it, I don’t care.” I knocked on Uncle Arthur’s office door quickly before continuing. “Focus on keeping your party alive while I do other s**t, Caldwell. It sounds like some boring freshman get-together I wouldn’t want to be seen in.”

“Hey!” I cut the call before he could even begin to argue and put my phone away just as the door opened.

“Hey, Uncle Arthur.”

He looked very confused to see me on the other side, eyebrows were drawn together. “Liam,” he peeked out and looked around confusedly before continuing. “Where’s your dad?” He moved away from the door, motioning me to come inside.

I threw myself down one of the surprisingly comfortable chairs in front of his desk. “He had more important s**t to do, but he told me to go to you.” I took out the card and handed it over to him. “He said you’d show me around.”

He sat down back on the desk, “Why are you doing here anyway? Don’t teenagers have other things to do?”

I shrugged in response since I didn’t even know what I was supposed to do here. The only person who knew had already left and only told me to get my uncle to give me a tour or something. “I didn’t have plans for the rest of the day.”

He nodded and turned his attention back to his work. “Let me finish this first.” A pause and he gestured to his laptop. “Then, we can go around and check things out. I’ll introduce you to some of our men too.” I settled down into the chair and just looked around aimlessly.

His office was relatively small, smaller than the one in the tech and security building at least. The room itself was plain with its bare, black walls. The only thing that stood out to me was the multiple screens on the wall, each showing what looks to be a map of different locations.

I stood up and walked over to one of the bigger screens which displayed a map of our area. There were no street names, but the roads in one area lined up with the roads around Aldridge Academy, and everything else was easy enough to follow. Tiny red dots were blinking steadily all over the place, some scattered around and a few clumped together. I found my eyes wandering inadvertently to one space in particular, where I knew she would be right now. There was one small blinking dot there, and I wanted to know what the f**k it meant.

“They’re trackers.” My uncle answered for me as he closed his laptop. He got out of his chair and stood right next to me, pointing at one of the red dots. “This helps us keep tabs on everything and everyone.”

“Trackers for what?” And why would there be one of those in her house?

“For the field staff.” He answered vaguely/ I stared at him, waiting for some kind of explanation but he didn’t offer any. Instead, he headed over to the office door with the black card in his hand and gestured for me to follow.

I went after him slowly, glancing over to the screen one last time, to where she was. Regret washed over me for not listening to what Eric had to say but I shrugged it off before closing the door behind me. It didn’t matter to me. Not at all.

I followed silently through the halls again, mentally making note of all the turns we took for the next time I go here. We reached a set of tall, shiny, heavy metal doors that somehow looked different from the rest.

He tapped the black card to the small box close to the door, which beeped and flashed green for a second. “Liam, whatever information you find out in these rooms stays private, okay?” I nodded firmly and he proceeded to grab the handles.

The longer I stared at the door, the more unusual it looked. He pushed the doors open like it weighed nothing and waited for me to pass through before closing it again, giving it one last push to make sure it locked. “It’s protected. That’s why it looks... different.”

In what way? I wanted to ask but I kept my mouth shut and just followed him through the hall again. It was as if we passed some sort of barrier because everything changed the moment the doors closed. The air felt heavier and the scent was like a hospital, sterile and too clean.

We started moving again, passing through the metal doors on either side of the hall. “Do you have an idea of what we do here?” He asked. In all honesty, I had a very basic grasp of what my father did on the side. People paid our company to take others away, especially if they were a problem. What would happen to those people would be at the discretion of whoever ordered their capture.

I shrugged lightly before answering. “I have an idea of what goes on but I don’t know the specifics of it all.” He nodded in acknowledgment and continued walking. “Do I need to know all of that now though?” I followed up after a few seconds of silence. He let out a chuckle, but I didn’t find it funny at all. I wasn’t ready for that yet, I came here for a tour, not a lecture.

“Okay, none of that yet then. I’ll just go show you around. Consider this your first-day introduction.”

We walked straight ahead to another metal door that looked very similar to the first one. He tapped the shiny black card into the small square that beeped and flashed green, just like the first time.

He turned to face me with a smile. “This is your future now, I hope you’re ready.”

I didn’t have a choice now, did I?