Wild Thing (48 page)

Watching it was fun.  But at last she remembered her Idea, and began making sure to “accidentally” bump her breasts into his chest as she exclaimed and wriggled about in his lap.  Every now and then she'd turn to look at him before letting herself get absorbed again by the action on screen, squealing about how exciting it all was.

Seeing the
hunger
in his eyes, and feeling the hardness pressing up under her thighs, felt good: made her feel powerful.  And it was then that she knew her plan to find out what she needed to know was going to work. 
She
had become the one in charge, not Mr S.  It was like she had a superpower that could bend men to her will.

Just like
She
had said she could show her how to do.  For a little while, she even worried that maybe She was still inside, and tricking her.  But there was nothing sneaky or tricky about it.  It was more like their bodies were both real hungry.

It was a very short distance from there, to wondering what Mr S would be like with his clothes off, with him
inside
her.  She'd kissed him, first.  He tried to pull away, to say they shouldn't.  But when she unzipped her suit and pulled his large hand onto her breast, he didn't stop.  She snaked her other hand under her, between his thighs, and worked at his zipper.  After that, it was all she could do to wrap her legs around his waist as he stood up and carried them both deeper than she'd ever been in his thickly-walled little house; through the small kitchen and down the narrow hallway past his toilet, and finally into his bedroom.  And onto his bed.

She hadn't gone easy on him.  He'd wanted to stop after the first time, but by then she'd worked out her plan, and used some of the new tricks and skills he'd just taught her, to make him go a second time.  For the third time, she'd gotten on top, riding him like she was a cowgirl, and he really seemed to enjoy that, especially when she leaned forward so he could reach her breasts.

Best of all, though, had been snuggling up together, afterward.

Mr S had gotten real worried, though, saying they shouldn't have, and that they mustn't do it again.  She'd just smiled, and soothed him, and said it was okay; that sure, they wouldn't do it again.  Not unless he wanted to!

It was weird: both Mr S and Keepie saying they shouldn't do it again.  She wondered if all men were like that?

And then, just like men were supposed to, a little while later he fell asleep.  She wiped herself clean, zipped herself back into her clothes, and crept back to his computer.  The password for his screen-unlocking was “ck9 space space Faith apostrophe 48”: two times, he hadn't been careful enough while she'd been with him, and she'd watched from the corner of her eye.

She started going through his system, quickly gaining confidence.  She'd expected it to be much harder to operate than it looked.  But it really was just a lot of touching and gesturing, like she'd seen him do heaps of times.  There were lots more security cameras than she'd seen before, including ones that were heat or motion triggered.

As she checked it out more and more, though, the more impossible it looked to sneak past all of the security precautions to get to Godsson.  She found the cameras for Godsson, and then found the search function, and checked to see what things were keeping him locked in.  She discovered there were
lots
of warnings and alerts that would go off, for all different sorts of reasons, even if the access code was entered.

But up at the very top level of the whole system, there was just a slider that could be used to take everything down for “preventative maintenance or system reload.”  She slid it down, and it asked for a reason, so she typed in “preventative maintenance.”  Then it asked how long for, so she clicked on “one hour,” and an “Are you sure?” box popped up, waiting for her to click on it.

She hadn't actually meant to rescue Godsson
tonight.
  But she probably wouldn't ever get a better chance.

She reached for the button, then hesitated.

What about Keepie?

Her fingertip hovered, just over the red “Yes” button.

Keepie wouldn't want to come.  He thought Godsson was mad, and would hurt people.  She was sure he wouldn't even give Godsson a
chance
to prove he wouldn't.

Her finger hovered.

But she couldn't just run away.  Keepie would feel
awful.
  He'd feel like she'd abandoned him.  Like everyone had always abandoned her.

Until Keepie.

Keepie had never abandoned her.

In front of her, the screen and her fingertip suddenly swam underwater.  She squeezed her eyes shut, and shook it away. 
S
top it!  You're not a baby.  You're practically eighteen.
Her fingertip slid to the right, over the green “No” button.

Her hand felt heavy, dragging down.  Somehow, she felt that resting it, sitting back, would be cheating.

Decide.

She couldn't abandon Keepie.

But she didn't have to
stay
away.  She and Faith and Godsson could run away
temporarily
.  They'd do lots of rescues and save people and stuff, to prove to Keepie that Godsson was good.  Then she'd sneak them all back in one night, and surprise him.

She imagined his shock, and how it would turn to delight.  He'd smile, and race forward, and hug her till she was afraid he'd squash her chest!  And then they'd
all
escape, together!

Through a sea of swimming pixels, her finger swung back to the left, back to the red blob, and she touched the screen.

All the indicator icons went from green to red.

Even with the system turned off, she still needed to enter the right codes at each door.  Tiptoeing down the stairs, she could still hardly believe that all kinds of alarms wouldn't start blaring out, any moment.  She knew it was silly to tiptoe, but she couldn't help doing it anyway.

Down the corridor from the stairs, glaring up at the new security camera, with its red light off… oh.  If anyone woke up, and noticed the lights were off, they'd realise what was happening.

Well, we'd just better be gone before then.

The intercom light on Godsson's door showed it was off, and she hadn't figured out how to turn it on.  The day of the attack, it had just happened by itself.  Probably there was a remote control.

She rapped on the window, and Godsson spun around.  When he saw her, he raised one eyebrow, then made his greeting gesture, which she knew now was a spell.

'Sara.  This is unexpected.  To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?'

She touched her fingertips to the glass, which was as thick as the door itself, and felt the vibrations as he spoke.

'Uncle says you don't like me anymore.  That you think She infected me.'

He looked at her, like he was sizing her up.  'And what do you think, yourself?'

'I think it'd be pretty stupid to let you out if I was.'

And punched in the code.

Chapter 55 

Godsson looked surprised, then wary, but at least he didn't instantly englobe himself in his golden protective circle against her. 
That
had to be a good sign.

'Come on, we have to be quick.  I turned off all the security.'

He stepped to the doorway of his room, looking at her strangely, then stared up at the security camera with its light not glowing red, before dropping his eyes back to her.  'So, no one can see what we do down here?'

'That's right.'

His gaze went distant, like he was looking somewhere else.  Had his hands just twitched?  Had he just done another spell?

'What's the matter?  Can't you get past the Dragon's Barrier spell on your room?'

Godsson shook his head, still not looking at her.  'No.  The Ward blocks only magic.'  He frowned.  'How much of the security did you turn off?'

'Well, all of it.  Everything.'

'Really?  You claim you have taken down the barrier wall?'

'Uh, I'm not sure what you mean.  Do you mean the big circle around the buildings?  I don't think so.'

Godsson shook his head, while his eyes continued scanning some distant vision.

'Look, come on!  I turned off all the
electronic
security.  If there's magic barriers, I don't know what to do about them.  But Uncle and I go into New Francisco sometimes, and I've never seen him do any magic to go out.  Or in, either.  And I snuck out once, too, on my own, and there was no magic barrier.'

His eyes came back to her, and he seemed to notice her clothes.  He actually winced – winced! – but didn't say anything.  He was
so
weird about clothing.

He
finally
stepped out of his cell, then took her hand.  Turning it over, he examined it, then stared deep into her eyes for a long time, like he was looking right into her.  Then his eyes went weird, like she'd seen her uncle and those shamans do, but Godsson's gaze kind of prickled, then burned, deep inside her.

She smacked his chest.  'Stop that.  It kind of hurts.  Plus we don't have much time.  Faith is coming too.'

That caught his attention.

'It'll just be the three of us.  We can team up and travel the country fighting evil.  I decided we can be called, uh, “
The Godsson Squadron”
.'  She looked up at him, suddenly feeling shy.  'Do you like it?'

He just blinked at her, like she'd confused him somehow.

'Come on!  Don't stand there like a dummy!  I'm not sure how long till Mr Shanahan wakes up.'

He let himself be led, staring around almost in wonder at the new room, and the corridor leading to the stairs.  'Did you knock him out?'

She flushed.  Something told her he wouldn't approve of her seducing Mr S to trick him.  'Uh, kinda, yeah.  Now come
on!'

The rescue, after that, went surprisingly easily.  With all the security turned off, they just walked up the stairs from the basement and out, using the door codes.  It was actually kind of helpful how they'd tied all the security together into one big system, that Mr Shanahan – or someone using his computer – could just turn off.

Faith was waiting, just like she'd told her to, and trotted forward as they came down the stairs.  Godsson wasn't paying any attention at all, though.  Instead, he was just spreading his arms wide and drawing in great deep breaths; staring up into the starry bright sky, slowly turning around like he could suck it all in.

It was a lovely night for an escape: warm with hardly any wind.

'Godsson, this is Faith.  Faith, this is, um, should I say
Mr
Godsson, or just Godsson?'

Godsson looked around, like he couldn't see her properly, and then waved his hand gently and a small globe of soft light appeared.  Then he turned his head slightly from side to side, his eyes going more sideways, and then he started looking worried and his eyes fixed fiercely on hers.  His mouth opened.

She pointed down, quickly.  'Uh,
that's
Faith, Godsson.'

His eyes dropped, and Faith gave a small growl as their eyes met.

'Stop it, Faith.'  She dropped to her haunches to give her a quick hug, and a talking-to.  'He's a friend.  You can trust Godsson.'

Faith still watched Godsson, her tail quite still.

'Faith is a
dog?'

Leeth bristled, and glared up at him.  'Yeah, a
cyber
dog.  And she's real brave, and smart, too.  She subdued five soldiers on the day that She attacked.  All by herself.'

'God's Son, a girl, and a dog,' he muttered, turning away from them, once more taking in the night sky.

She stood up.  'Yeah, it's just the three of us.'

He turned back to her, studying her carefully.  She tried to smile, putting aside thoughts of Keepie.  Left behind.

For now.

'Oh, what troubles you, Sara?  Do you feel regret, at turning your back on your Father?  Abandoning him?'

'We'll come back!  I'm
not
abandoning him.'  But it
felt
like she was.  She knew what it felt like to be abandoned.  'Yeah, I know what that's like,' she whispered to herself.

He must have heard her.

'Really?' he asked, innocently.  'Who abandoned you, Sara?'

'Everyone!  Except K-, except Uncle.'

Now he looked curious.  'Oh?  Everyone?  Who?'

'Yeah.  Everyone.  Like my… before….' 
What?
  She tried again.  'They… I was only…'  But… she'd always been at the Institute.  Except… she
had
to have a mother, didn't she?

For a moment, she saw a long curtain of silky black hair hanging over her face; remembered reaching up to grab it…

The image vanished, leaving a ringing
absence
in its wake.

Godsson stepped up, wrapping his arms around her.  'I'm sorry, Sara.  I didn't mean to distress you.'  One hand brushed her hair back from her face, and she looked up into his gentle smile, lit by the soft golden light he'd summoned earlier.  'A question to ask your uncle one day, perhaps.  No doubt he can explain what he… what happened to you.  He must know.'

She shivered, an odd feeling running through her, and she clung to him.  It was nice to be held.

He suddenly looked embarrassed, and pulled away.  And studied her, thoughtfully, in the golden glow.  With a frown, he turned and walked away.

'Um, maybe you should put out your light?  In case someone wakes up and looks out?  I think Dr Simmons's and Professor Sanders's rooms face this way.'

He turned back, pausing, and smiled at her like she'd said something silly.  'I don't think we need to worry about them finding me and taking me back inside now, Sara.'

That was something else she should tell him, too,
she thought.  Her real name.  For a moment, she thought his eyes narrowed dangerously, but he turned away too fast. He headed for the drive, crunching across the gravel like he was the one leading the way. 
And
he hadn't turned his light off.  She glared at his back through the sloppy gray material of his track suit, and suddenly noticed he was wearing slippers.  She giggled, and she thought his shoulders tensed slightly when she did, which made her giggle again.