Wild Thing (14 page)

'Can
you
Vanish them, Keepie?'

'
Banish,
not
vanish.
  And yes, Sara, I can.  Some of our inmates are very good at Summoning.'

'Is the un-, um, is the invisible monster something one of the patients summoned?  Why don't you just Banish it?'

Harmon blinked.  'It's too fast for me.'

She looked doubtful.

He let his voice sink lower.

'Nor is it something a patient summoned.  Whatever it is, it is more subtle and dangerous than that.  I am not even entirely sure it is either spirit
or
elemental.  I suspect it may be some other kind of incorporeal being: some new kind.'

'Ohh!  Does it have three eyes?'

He blinked, again, several times, impressed afresh by the imaginative capabilities of children.  Then nodded, solemnly.  'It may well have three eyes, Sara, yes.'

'Wow!'

For a while, she busied herself with her food, thinking hard as she sliced the processed meat, swirled it in the gravy, and followed it with an equal amount of green beans.  At last she looked up.

'Do you think it could be Godsson's?'

Harmon carefully failed to react to her bombshell: that she had met and spoken with their most dangerous inmate.  How on
earth
had she bypassed their security?  He blinked.  She really was quite remarkable.

'Could Godsson summon up something that wasn't a spirit or an ella-mental?'

By god, if anyone could,
thought Harmon, horrified by the idea,
it would be Godsson.  Or the
Dragon Lord
.  Although, thanks to the Wards around his cell, Godsson could only summon them inward, upon himself.  And except during his mostly-annual
episodes,
he was not so insane as to do that.  Only when he felt he deserved such punishment.  At each anniversary of the killing of d'Artelle.

But Sara still waited for an answer.  He considered.  It certainly made a good story, fitted his plans, and would also amplify the self-generated stress from her own imagination.

'Well, the Barriers around his cell are enormously powerful.  So he should not be able to.'  He shrugged.  'Although with Godsson, it is very hard to say what is possible or impossible.'

Sara nodded, looking fully satisfied with the new information, and went back to her food, thoughtfully.

For his part, he took the opportunity provided by her inattention to slip his senses to the Imaginal, re-cast the mindmeld, and check that his recent alteration was still secure, still feeding any fear back into the part of the brain which – he hoped – would form a complex to focus her will inward, increasing the pressure necessary for her eventual Unfolding.

Indeed, it looked surprisingly well-developed and healthy.  As if exercised regularly.

He slid his psychic probes back out, well-satisfied.  She was sitting a little stiffly, he noticed.  Her thoughts had slowed, too, growing strangely heavy.  Time to withdraw.  He checked the new mental complex one last time.  Really, it looked remarkably complete, perhaps even more intricate than he had anticipated.  As if she herself had been extending it.

Amazing, how potent a child's imagination could be.

Briefly, he allowed himself to consider the possibility that the “invisible monster” was something more than merely his spur-of-the-moment invention.  The possibility, even, that it really was some creature summoned by Godsson.

He shuddered.  Fortunately though, even
could
Godsson summon something unnatural from the realm below the Imaginal – from the collective unconscious – he could only bring it forth within his own cell.  Within the layers of those impossibly-potent Barriers which Lao Pi Shen, with his own small assistance, had created over five years ago; which still stood, as firm and strong as the day they'd set them in place.

That was something he checked at every visit.

Without fail.

Perhaps it was time for an unscheduled visit.  Just to be sure.  Though first, he would review the security files, since clearly she
had
somehow spoken to him.  Perhaps she had distracted Shanahan, then used the comm channel in his office?

The video from Godsson's cell should tell him.

Ten minutes later, Harmon sat back in his chair, astonished.  She had visited him
physically
.

He didn't understand the charade with the broken cleaning bot, nor why there was no sound for the video, but those things were of lesser importance.

It also explained the weals on her arm that he had casually healed before dinner. 
“Scratched it in the forest
,” indeed.  But what had Godsson said to her, for her to react with such horror?  He suspected her reaction was in some way related to his own recent alteration of her mental landscape.

It seemed that
Godsson
was now providing an excellent stress source.  As well as stimulating her considerable imagination.

And Godsson himself had been more engaged, this year.  Less aloof.  Presumably, a result of her visits.

No, the most intriguing thing had been Godsson's reaction.  What had Sara done to so astonish him?  It was as if, by tearing at her arm, she had subverted Godsson's own delusion.

He considered.  Their interaction clearly benefited both.  It would be important for them to feel it was their secret.

He would simply monitor.  And watch carefully what grew from their relationship.
 

Chapter 13 

Sara liked to roam the Forest – which had turned into the Jungle, now it was summer – with her bow and arrows.  She got to know the busy beetles, the always-foraging and hunting ants, and the birds in their huge variety.

The birds especially loved the blackberry vines with their sweet fruit –
if
you could avoid the horridly prickly branches – and the much easier grape vines with their juicy berries.  She also noticed how the squirrels and the birds seemed to get annoyed with each other when the berries plumped up.  Mostly they'd squabble over the grapes though, since the birds took the outermost blackberries, while the squirrels took the ones deeper in the needled thickets of twisty whip-like branches.  Both groups seemed happy enough with that arrangement.  Sara only got the left-overs.

Sometimes
She
would toy with them, making the birds drop the berries so the squirrels could snatch them up; or tugging a branch aside so a leaping squirrel would miss, and fall down into the tangled, spiky vines.  It made Sara giggle, seeing the animals tripping or fumbling.  Though once, a crow got caught and started panicking, and that hadn't been funny.  She'd had to burrow in through the thorny stems and try to get it free without hurting it, while it flapped about like crazy and hurt itself more.

As she'd awkwardly crawled free, getting tugged and scratched by the brambles while the frantic bird squirmed and panicked in her hands, She got cross.

«
Don't be silly.  They're just animals.  And they're taking berries
you
could be eating.  It serves them right!
»

Don't be so mean!
  She tried to ignore Her while keeping her head down, wriggling under the prickly whip-like branches with the large bird clutched in her hands, its heart beating so fast she was afraid it'd burst.

«
I'm not mean.  Nature's mean.  Besides, it makes them stronger.  The survival of the fittest.  The fittest get fattest.  So I'm really
helping
them.»

Sometimes, She seemed really mean.  It was much nicer being with Faith.

It was always best with Faith by her side.  As a proper guard dog, she was both real good at staying quiet, and also great at spotting animals – and could even shine a red dot on them if you gave her an exaggerated-enough '
Where?'
look.  They hunted real well together.

Though she had to admit it hadn't been such a good idea to hunt
Faith
herself.

To start with, it had been pretty easy: after all, she knew Faith's routine and the areas she was ’sposed to patrol.  The hardest bit in
that
part had been not giggling when Faith padded past the bushes where she'd been hiding.  Downwind of her, of course.

Sneaking out from the bush silently had been a bit tricky, but she'd thought ahead and made a kind of little burrow on the side away from the track, and had also brushed the leaves away when she'd wriggled in to wait in the first place.

It had been harder to follow her quickly enough while staying silent, since Faith moved pretty fast.  But from watching how her companion maneuvered through the undergrowth, she'd learned to keep pretty quiet herself.  And to freeze, the instant she saw Faith's ears twitch in her direction.

The hardest part had been
catching up
to Faith without her friend sensing her.  Especially since she had to concentrate on where the wind was blowing from: Faith's nose was practically magical.

In the end, she knew she'd have to cheat if she was going to successfully Pounce her.  So when they reached the area of rocky hills behind the Institute, instead of following along behind, she clambered up and across, waiting on the small bluff on the other side for Faith to come trotting into view along the trail.

She had to keep her head down, since she knew Faith's laser eyes were real sharp, and super good at detecting movement.

She shut her own eyes while she waited, concentrating extra hard on her other senses.  Her fingers and limbs were trembling, a tingle thrumming through them, so sharp it was almost distracting.

Finally, she heard the softest padding sound; then nothing; then the padding sound again, much closer.  She'd have to time it, she realized, picturing Faith trotting along.  She tensed, readying herself to spring.

Three, two, one-

She leaped, clearing the rocks, Faith immediately below her.  She just had time to think,
Perfect!

In slow motion she saw Faith stiffen, the red glow from her eyes brightening, the head turning toward her even as the animal twisted and leaped sideways, dodging as her laser mounts snapped out, already aiming…

Sara felt her eyes widen as she suddenly realized this had been a
very bad idea
.  Curling and contorting, she tried to wrench herself around, away…

The blast seared through her shirt, rock exploding from behind her.  Faith
yelped
, and then Sara was crashing down onto her friend, knocking her off her feet.  Both of them went rolling and tumbling down the rocky hillside, the hot barrel of the laser burning her as they jumbled together.

She came to, to Faith's distressed licking of her face, and for a moment she wasn't sure where she was or what had happened.  Faith whined, so she cuddled her to reassure her everything was all right.

Her back and sides
really
stung, though, and she had scrapes and bruises on her hips, elbows, and forearms, she saw.  What…?

Oh.
  That's right.

Once Faith had calmed down enough, Sara stood up to check out her shirt.  Astonishingly, most of the right side was simply
gone
.  The edge was just a little bit dark, hardly even looking burned.  More like it had been cut.  'Wow, Faith, you sure have a powerful laser, don't you?'

Faith whined again, saying she was awful sorry.  But then looked annoyed.

'Yeah, okay, I guess that
was
pretty dumb,' Sara admitted.  'I just thought…'

From the look Faith was still giving her, she knew she'd better just hug her again.  So she did, kneeling down.  Her side, and back, and arms stung, but she concentrated on reassuring her best friend.

Faith yipped – and when she pulled back to see what was wrong, stared at her real seriously.  Then, when she still looked confused, Faith's expression grew impatient.  She pointed her nose back up the hill, and finally, put her red laser dot on a particular point far above them.

She looked up, tracing the disturbed earth and fallen rocks that led up from where they both now rested, to the trail above, and the point where she'd tried Pouncing Faith.

There was a big hole in the rock up there, like something had exploded out from it.

'Oh, wow!'  She looked back at Faith.  'That was you?'

Faith dipped her head fractionally, agreeing.

'That is
so cool!'

But Faith
yipped
again, and even tilted her head to one side, like she was saying
'And, dumb-head, that means…?'

But what
did
it mean?

She'd never seen Faith shoot her laser before.  A shiver ran through her as she remembered the missing part of her shirt.  Would Keepie've been able to heal her up if she hadn't dodged? 
Or if Faith hadn't un-targeted her at the last moment?
  Whichever.

'Come on, let's climb back up and have a closer look.'

Faith still seemed worried about something, but scrabbled up the hill behind her.  At a few places, Sara had to tug on her to help her up.  But she just
had
to go and see the blast.

The hill wasn't that steep, though having her shirt flap against her side felt a little strange.  Lucky it'd been a hot day and she'd worn something loose for Faith to target, rather than something tight-fitting.

While she climbed, she checked herself out.  She had an oval-shaped burn on her side, which had really started to hurt. 
From pressing against the barrel of the laser pod.
  It sure must've heated up quickly!  She also had lots of little cuts, and she winced as she found and scraped out some splinters.  Of stone.  Tugging the back of her shirt around, she saw it was punctured in a whole lot of places by a lot of tiny tears.

When they got back up to the trail, she figured out why.

She'd expected the rock to be melted from the laser, but instead it looked like the stone had simply
shattered
, exploding outwards.  There were a whole bunch of shards scattered around.