Page 31 of Geist Fleisch
CHAPTER NINE
“Callum? Callum? Can you hear us?”
Frank’s voice stirred him back to consciousness, followed by the stale smell of cigarettes and old books.
“You’re at the Institute, my friend. You caused quite a stir at the Metropol. I had to bribe the police.”
“The police? What are you—”
“Darling, you fell off the stage,” chirped Anne before taking another puff of her cigarette. “What you were doingonstage with your pants around your ankles is anyone’s guess.”
He checked his hand with a start, finding to his relief a fleshy palm spouting five calloused digits, even if it did look paler than usual. He lifted his other hand. It looked exactly the same. “What’s going on?”
“You’re lucky one of Karl’s friends at Moabit hospital noticed something off about you,” answered Frank. “God knows what even the most open-minded doctor would have made of it. Anyway, you’re safe. What do you remember?”
It wasn’t that he trusted Frank Bakker, even with Anne by the man’s side. He definitely didn’t trust the people Frank called friends. Not ‘people,’ but monsters. Perhaps Frank wasno better, but what choice did he have? He didn’t try explainingwhyhe’d returned to the bar. Frank didn’t seem like the sort of man who liked apologies being made for him. But he managed to articulate the rest, ignoring Anne’s choking as he described his dismemberment, though she perked up a bit when he mentioned Max holding him.
“It does sound like the most dynamic dream,” she said. “What on earth did Suzi pour you?”
Callum shook his head. “It wasn’t a dream.”
“Sometimes our most vivid fears or desires can feel so real to us, it’s easy to confuse the two, especially in a place like this.” Frank turned to Anne before Callum could ask what he meant. “Anne, will you be a dear and tell Karl that Callum’s awake and to the best of my knowledge, no worse for wear?”
As Anne sauntered from the room, Frank drew closer to Callum’s ear. “Careful, there. The less your cousin knows about what you’ve seen, the better.”
Callum frowned, easing himself up on the leather couch. “She doesn’t know what kind of work you do?”
“Does she know what you are?”
On this, he couldn’t argue. “She seems caught up in your business, all the same.”
Frank sighed, caught in an omission. “That’s more on our part than Anne’s. I’ll be blunt with you. Anne came into contact with the Institute shortly after moving here, as curious newcomers to Berlin of… non-traditional persuasion often do. To us, she meant no more than an acquaintance, until you arrived.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You may not have seen him, but Robert knew you weren’t human the moment he picked up your scent in one of the bars. Our people report any such ‘gifted’ newcomers they encounter as a matter of course, but given your connection to Anne, it only made sense to foster that relationship until you could be brought into our fold.”
“Where you could use me?” Callum seethed. “Watch me?”
“Protect you. And observe you, yes, in so far as we needed to confirm Robert’s suspicions. The photo of you two gave us that. As for the spirits in the bar… Callum, I am truly sorry for how that turned out. I swear to you, we didn’t know the apparatus would harm them.”
Callum shook his head, muttering under his breath. “I didn’t either.” He paused, gathering his thoughts to describe the battlefield. The wounded and the dead. Max and Ferdi.
“I… truly don’t know what else to say.” Frank’s face was heavy with shame. “As for the secrecy, you must understand, we cannot share our work with the world at large. Especially not now, in Germany.”
Callum shook his head again. “I don’t see what that’s got to do with ghosts and ghouls.”
“Politics and the paranormal? The intersections may surprise you. But again, the less you know, the less Anne knows, the safer you both are. The National Socialists may be one election away from shutting this place down. Do you have any idea what they’d do if they discovered us?”
“The… the Institute?”
“Yes, the Institute.” Frank squeezed his hand. “But also, people like you, Robert and Jacqueline. In ambitious hands,even what little knowledge we’ve accumulated about you and your kind could bring catastrophe. I’m talking about this country’s future, and Europe’s. You’ve arrived at the wrong end of the party, Callum. But one must stay hopeful. The future is always in flux, after all.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
Frank nodded, solemnly. “I’m glad to hear it. You’ll be able to go home soon, I promise.”
“Home?”
