Hidden Faults (32 page)

“Okay, what’s the bad news?” I asked as I took my seat.

“Nidinwe hon Malin and Kregan hon Sersa are brothers,” Wesejne said.

I started in surprise. “But the names—”

“Their parents split up when the kids were little,” Kir said. “Kregan went with his Mam, Nidinwe to his Da, and each took the name of the one with custody. Definitely a connection between them, and Kregan with Nidinwe’s school.”

“So, that’s interesting but why is it significant?”

“The significance,” Wesejne said, “is that Kregan lived in the Weadenal from the age of six until he was twenty, when he returned to Pindone. While he was in the Weadenal, his mother became the intimate friend of a telepath who had once been part of the Elected but who had left when our group suffered a political schism.”

“The Elected?” I looked at Hermi. “You know, if people would come right out and tell me the stuff I needed to know, I wouldn’t have to ask so many stupid questions.”

“The Elected,” Hermi answered, “are paranormals who have similar beliefs to Spiritists, but who differ from us in several key issues. They have, for many years, been able to promote the welfare of paranormals, and in some cases, conceal them.”

“We’re the reason that the Weadenal is such an enlightened, benevolent place for our kind,” Wesejne added, glaring at me.

“If you’re so benevolent, how come some of your people didn’t want to stay?”

“That’s none of your concern.”

I resisted making a rude gesture and turned back to Hermi to finish this tortuous explanation.

“The Elected and this schismatic group, all practice a highly sophisticated mental shielding. Kir and Jeyle are the only ones of us here who’ve learned the technique.”

Kir broke in to explain more. “See, Jodi, to a telepath, most shields are like looking at a brick wall. We can’t see through them, but we can’t not know they’re there. What me and Jeyle got is like a pane of glass—only, it’s more like a painting of a window, because what people see ain’t what’s actually going on in our heads. It’s camouflage. A telepath can look at me, never even know I was a talent.”

Understanding dawned. “Kregan’s a paranormal.”

“Highly likely,” Hermi said. “Or he knows someone who is—perhaps his brother—and that person’s the one using Weadenisi techniques to suppress and replace memories in people like you.”

“In the school!”

“Yes,” Jeyle said suddenly. I jumped in shock when she spoke. “The perfect cover. And one the Weadenisis use themselves. They also use secretly paranormal doctors to find such children and retrieve them before they get into the official system. We’ve been doing the same thing here, but on a smaller scale.”

“There’s a numeric discrepancy,” Hermi said. “Whatever you think about Spiritism and our beliefs about spirits and talents, the fact is, the numbers of paranormals globally has always been astonishingly constant, allowing for records being lost or not kept and so on. In Pindone, we’re missing over a hundred major rank paranormals, given our population size and given the numbers before the terrors started. We’re pretty sure we’ve accounted for all who’ve been arrested, jailed, or recruited by Noret. We’re still short.”

“What if you’re not the only unknown paranormal, Jodi?” Kir asked.

I stared at them all. “Nidinwe’s school was a front? And my fellow students...were all paras?”

“Probably not all of them,” Hermi said. “That’s why we need your help. How many of your school friends are you still friendly with...sorry, before, you know...?”

“Uh. Three or four. I know where others are working, but we don’t maintain contact. Timo—Paltimo hon Darmo—is one. He’s my best friend. I met him at the school and we went through the Academy together. He’s two years older than me. Damn, and he’s infertile as well,” I said, suddenly connecting it all in my mind. “He has the gene. We were tested when we registered for sperm donation. But we can’t involve him in this, Kir. It’d ruin his life. He has a family.”

“Yeah, but he’s our best chance of finding out if you’re a one-off or part of a pattern. If I get close to him, with you talking to him, I can see if he’s blocked.”

“No, I won’t allow it. He’ll be imprisoned. If you release the block like you did to me....” Kir looked away guiltily. “I can’t, Kir.”

“There is no need to release any block, Arwe Jodimai.” I turned to Wesejne. “Brother Kirvo is skilled enough to detect the presence and quality of any mental tampering.”

“
But what about his family? And if he’s a paranormal, what will you do?”

“
Nothing. We ain’t interested in him, only what’s been done to him.”
I wouldn’t hurt him any more than I’d hurt you, Jodi.

Not deliberately.

I know what I did wrong, okay?

Kateju decided she’d been quiet long enough. “Arwe Jodimai? Brother Kirvo doesn’t need your permission. The only difference your cooperation will make is that his task will be somewhat easier. This is too important for you to veto.”

I barely restrained myself from snarling. “Fine. Then I refuse to cooperate in your attempt to ruin my friend’s life the way you ruined mine.”

I got up and walked out, fairly vibrating with fury, but Kir, running behind me, caught me up a little further along the corridor. I clenched my fists and tried to hold in my anger as I turned to him.

“
I don’t blame you. But Timo has two little boys who need their father. I won’t help you destroy that family.”

“I wouldn’t.”

“You’ll do what they say. You have to. This whole...den of luxury and indolence is paid for by them, isn’t it? You have to dance to the Weadenisi tune or they pull the plug.”

“I owe them. A lot. But they don’t own me.”

“Wesejne is behaving like you’re his pet on a leash. Like all the Pindonis are only there to do what he wants.”

“You have no idea what he’s done for me.”

“Yes, I do. They saved your sanity. Like you saved mine, by getting me out of prison. But I’m still trapped here, and you’re still caught by them. Neither of us can do as we truly wish.” I sighed and leaned against the wall. “And Kateju can hear everything we’re saying, can’t she?”

“
No. I’m shielding us. Jodi,I wouldn’t hurt Timo. You love him—and no, I wouldn’t do it out of jealousy. That’s your thing, not mine.”

“Stop reading my damn mind!”

“Stop thinking then!”

We glared at each other.

“I’m not jealous,” I said. “I don’t like him. He’s an arrogant prick.”

“Takes one to—”

“Shut up.” I looked away from him. “Timo’s a good man. He doesn’t deserve to be ruined. Those two in there, they don’t care. If exposing Timo will further their bloody agenda, they’ll do it. Either order you to do it, or do it themselves. Damn it, it’s Ganwe all over again.”

He moved in front of me. “Timo’s not the one we’re after. We need to know what Kregan’s up to.”

“Then go after him.”

“Not until we know what’s going on. Look, Jodi. I swear. We can go in, talk to the guy—”

“You’re forgetting one small point, Kir. Timo never called or visited me. For all I know, he hates me.”

“No, he don’t. I checked on him when I was trying to find you. He’s frightened and worried, but he don’t hate you.”

I sagged with relief. “Can you protect him? His family?”

“Absolutely.”

“And if Wesejne says we have to expose him?”

“I’m saying no. I ain’t much here to some, but the Weadenisis listen to me. If there are some of our kind nice and safe and hidden, we got no reason to change that. But it’s who’s doing the hiding and why, we need to know.”

“You could use your talent to make me agree, couldn’t you?”

His lips thinned and then he turned and walked away.

Kir!

He whirled. “And this is gonna be the way it is forever with you, ain’t it? I ain’t a human to you, I’m just a fucking spook.”

“No, it was more...you could use it but you’re not using it. So...that tends to makes me trust you.”

He frowned, then nodded. “Okay. But it’s still there, your suspicion.”

“Yes. How can it not be?”

He leaned against the opposite wall, his shoulders drooping with fatigue. “It’s like being a kid again, you know? Even though I never had no powers in prison, the other kids hated my guts. I didn’t even do nothing to them.”

I could almost see the lonely child he must have been. So hard to remember to be angry with him. “You messed with my head. You’re talking about messing with Timo’s head, and he’s important to me. I have a right to be suspicious.”

His jaw worked. “They want me back in there.”

The thought of Wesejne and his arrogance made my upper lip curl in contempt. “Then do run along.”

“You can stop being a prick any time, Jodi.”

He began to walk away. I caught up with him and grabbed his arm. “You want me to trust you with someone who’s the most precious person in the world to me.”

He put his hand over mine, and stared into my eyes. “He won’t get hurt by anything I do, or that I can stop.”

I couldn’t ask for more than that. Wesejne and the woman would be much cruder and more careless than Kir, and I trusted him more than them. But I didn’t want this at all.

On the surface, the plan seemed benign—call on Timo in the dead of night and talk to him about Arwe Nidinwe’s school so Kir could see what had been blocked in his memories and if the block was the same kind of thing done to me. What happened after that worried me. It felt like the others, even Jeyle and Hermi, dismissed every protestation I made on behalf of these entirely innocent people. It made me want to shake them and ask if they really wanted to drag more people into the hell their own lives had become.

I had to have a fake biochip implanted in artificial skin over my real chip. There wasn’t time to completely replace it as had been done to Jeyle and Kir. The naksen reservoir had to be removed too, a procedure which didn’t hurt at the time, but made my arm ache unbearably when the anaesthetic wore off. Dede was stingy with the pain relief—only, she swore, because my liver needed the rest after the naksen. She claimed to be on my side over the issue of Timo, but maybe she thought I needed to hear that.

At least it won me an exemption from the bloody greeting circle charade. I’d intended to sleep but the pain and worry about Timo, what we planned to do, and confused feelings over Kir, acted better than any stimulant to keep me awake. Going back to Vizinken as an escaped prisoner also worried me. We’d be there at night, and in disguise, but I’d lived there for years. What if someone recognised me?

A knock came at my door.
Jodi, it’s me.

Come in, Kir.

He didn’t walk far into the room, instead hovering around the doorway. He frowned as if he had an intractable headache. “I, uh...you’re distracting me. I couldn’t concentrate on the greeting circle, so I excused myself.”

“Sorry.”

“Not your fault. Um...want me to do something about that?” He pointed to my arm rather hesitantly, as if he realised that he could no longer use his powers on me without my protesting.

I thought about it. “Do it.”

The pain dropped off to the merest ache, a tiny shadow of what had been. “Amazing,” I murmured. I tried not to think about how a telepath could have the opposite effect with as little difficulty.

“Can’t do it too much. The brain gets used to it.”

“Still—thank you. I’m sorry I took you away from your friends.”

He shrugged. “My choice. You think you can sleep now?”

“Not a hope in hell. Why don’t you sit down?”

He sat rather warily on the chair.

“Will Wesejne be angry about you missing the greeting circle because of me?” I asked.

“Ticked off, yeah. He’ll live. Jeyle says I should keep away from you, but since we’re gonna be spending so much time together anyway, don’t seem much point. I got too many people to avoid here already.”

“I don’t want you to avoid me. We’re not children, Kir.”

He nodded. I sensed he wanted me to invite him to stay, and I wanted to...but I could never trust that feeling. “I wish there was some way we could—”

“
There ain’t,” he snapped.

“
Then why are you doing this
? You could be out there with your friends.”

“I didn’t want you to be in here hurting on your own.”

“It’s something I need to get used to.” He pulled a face. “When do we leave tomorrow?”

“Before it gets dark, cos we don’t want to be driving in the snow at night.”

We were taking a veecle. Kir, Jeyle, and I all had to have identities that would stand up to at least some scrutiny in case security or traffic control stopped us. Sophisticated and near undetectable makeup—another Weadenisi invention—would cover the tattoos. Those people really scared me. They embodied everything that had made Pindone so paranoid about paranormals.