One is Come (Five in Circle) (12 page)

“Try?” Her anger flared and Cadarn fought the reflex of going to the familiar place in his head when his mother would lose her temper. “Did you see me try to set a ward, just then? It was like hitting a brick wall! My guts wrenched, and you want me to try some more? Please, give me some respect! You have no part of this!”

Cadarn let the words wash over him, his face blank.
It’s your fault
, a voice in his head whispered.
You broke the computer, caused your mother pain, and it’s your fault
. He paused, realizing that for the first time he didn’t care; the voice was the same, but newly powerless. That realization was lost as his mother suddenly clapped a hand over her mouth.

Cadarn looked at her, and tilted his head. “What.”

“What did I say?”

“How should I know?” He lost it. That new part of him, maybe a part always there but buried, fully emerged. He flashed back to the feeling that he was going to die, and he never felt more real, more alive. For the first time in his life, he yelled back as his mother.

“How the hell should I know! How dare you treat me like a little kid! Tell me what is going on!” His fists clenched and he stopped as he felt tears welling up. He tried, but couldn't stop a few tears from leaking down his face. He swiped at them angrily.

His mother flinched. Turning slightly, she glanced at the computer. She paused, took a deep breath, let it out, then slumped a little. She looked at Cadarn. “You look more and more like your father every day,” she said quietly. She seemed to say that a lot lately.

She stood up. “First, I need to do, well, want to try something, ok?” She closed her eyes, started humming again, and put her hands on her stomach. A big smile blossomed on her face, and she threw her hands out, tilting her head back as she sang one wordless note.

As she did, a wave of something rushed out from her, sparkling. Cadarn felt it in his chest like when the sub-woofer kicked in on the big stereo. The computer sent up another wisp of smoke. He looked back at his mother, who was still smiling. His own anger smoothed slightly. She sighed deeply, then opened her eyes and saw Cadarn watching her. A haunted look replaced part of her smile. She sat down on the floor heavily.

Cadarn got up to sit on the stool, never taking his eyes off his mother. “What did you just do—it felt like, well, something. What is going on?”

She slowly shook her bowed head. “Well, that was a simple protection bubble, a ward. I think we are safe, at least for the moment. The house is safe, at least. Until we move. Your father and I haven't had a chance to talk, really, but I know he will agree with me.” She gestured to the lump of plastic that was the computer. “There may be restrictions on some things.”

She paused, raising and tilting her head, looking at him as if just noticing something. She asked, gently but urgently, “You felt that?” He nodded once. “Have you felt anything else lately, like this? Or, well, has anything strange happened around you?”

She was back into her lecture mode. Cadarn was still looking at the computer and too confused and upset to say anything but, “no.”

She looked at him, then sighed. “Well, if you do, you must tell me or your father. It is very important, ok?”

He looked at her, then at the computer. He stood as the anger flared. “What is going on?” he said through gritted teeth. He could feel the tears starting to come back and didn't want to risk saying more.

“I think someone is trying to get to, to use me or your father,” she said softly. “I think someone is trying to hurt our family.”

Cadarn blinked. It was his father’s computer. It wasn’t his fault at all. With that realization came another, one he would never forget. He relaxed in a brief moment of relief, which only made it worse when he fell into an endless pit of fear. This was bigger than him, much bigger. His mother was not just afraid for him, like usual. She was afraid for herself, too. This was something so huge neither she nor Dad could stop it. Cadarn felt the fear in his mother's eyes seep into him, felt how overwhelming it really was. It all finally hit him. Something serious, adult serious, had happened to Haylwen. Something had happened to him. He saw it all clearly, and was stunned.

It was like stepping off a cliff. He fell, never to return to who he had been. In his mother’s eyes, in that moment, he saw the truth. His parents were just people, just like him, falling down the same cliff of unknowing. They were just mostly used to it. He could die— they could die— at any moment. They couldn’t protect him or themselves. Overwhelmed, he shook uncontrollably. His mother reached out and pulled him into a hug. He collapsed next to her, let go, and sobbed big adult tears.

Chapter 18

Report

“Hon, get me a new laptop,” Gheneve said calmly as she handed the ruined mess to Tommy. She ignored the pain in her hands and smoothed her carefully styled, short black hair and straightened her navy suit. She was not even conscious that she had composed her lean face to show no surprise at what just happened. She didn't look happy, but then again, she never did, even when she laughed. Happy and laughter didn’t really go together anyway. Tommy gathered the ruined machine and left. She watched him go, and while she hated sending him to the lower levels, she needed a minute. She rationalized it by thinking he needed to toughen up anyway. Everything she had was at risk, the Conclave was all-powerful. They could raise a Challenge, call a Meeting… she couldn’t afford the tiniest mistake, much less this.

The door closed, and Gheneve let her thoughts run. What happened? It felt like… but that would be horrible. She searched for a rationalization for herself and for her report.

Start with her orders. “Keep him safe, don’t lose him. Watch closely, he must Awaken soon.” She could report they were correct, he had Awakened. She didn’t really need to mention what she had done to prompt it, now did she? And the boy was safe; her husband’s plan didn’t result in any damage. Well, none that she could tell. So, nothing.

Her mind sliced expertly. What to tell was easier than figuring out what had actually happened. She certainly wasn’t going to admit it could have just been some sort of feedback from her own magic use. She didn’t know enough about magical items to guess if they were even possibly to blame, but it was reasonable. She again was struck with the fact that her agent was certain there was a legendary Wish Wand there!

Focus, what else. What about blaming the boy’s Awakening? Again, she had no idea. By finding out how extensive the damage was she could get a clue, and was a productive procrastination of reporting. If it was just the computer, maybe she wouldn't even have to say what had happened. They had lots of computers, and if she could just reestablish contact, she could resume monitoring. They had lots of everything… her fear tickled her to remember being poor, cold and hungry, and she steeled her resolve. She had sworn she would never go back, and if her husband reminded her a bit too much of her abusive father of late, at least she was doing better with Tommy than her mousy mother did for her.

At that thought, Tommy came back in, breathless. Though thankful for the interruption of her unpleasant trip down memory lane, she was surprised with how fast he returned. He was in shape, so his panting meant he must have sprinted the whole way. Good boy—she hadn't needed to remind him not to portal. He shut the door quickly behind him and jumped to plug in and boot up the computer. Gheneve fumed as she and her son waited. He knew well enough that time was crucial, why didn’t he start the boot up when he grabbed the laptop?

Tommy glanced at her from under pitiful eyebrows. “Sorry, Mother, the batteries are all kept drained. I didn’t want to risk alerting, uh, anyone by powering it up myself.”

Somewhat mollified, she didn’t have time to reply before the computer was ready and Tommy was bent over the desk in front of her, busily attempting reconnection.

“Let me,” she said, and he moved out of the way instantly.

She sat up gracefully in the chair. “Be there...” she whispered, as her hands flew across the keyboard. They hurt to move from the jolt that had come through, but her fear again pushed pain to the side. After two attempts, she was not able to make a connection. She ran a diagnostic—there was no signal at all. She sat back. The blast fried all of their connectivity? The implications made her hands start burning stronger, but that was nothing compared to the twisting of her guts. Could she get connectivity repaired before the targets moved?

She took a breath, forced herself to think it through. If her connection was fried, theirs must be. If they would only let their damn son have a phone, but she knew Abrennin wasn't that trusting. They probably wouldn’t consider replacing their computer, or even fixing their connection. Not to mention, if it was something other than feedback… they were cripples, impossible. She gathered the courage to see covering this up was not an option. What happened? That is, what is a reasonable explanation for what happened? Lets see, Awakening, or the Wish Wand, perhaps something about the boy’s special role…

She knew she had to tell the story in just the right way. Just enough truth to be believable and match the evidence with just enough lies to shift the blame, no matter what. She took a few moments, running through the possibilities, whispering to herself.

She reached for her phone and sent a quick text. Once they got this text, they would want a full report. Maybe it would receive priority routing; it might be as soon as tomorrow. Before she could finish the thought, she felt a Command. She closed her eyes, and was dimly aware that Tommy had tensed as well. She flinched as she understood the message.

She opened her eyes. “They want to see us both immediately.”

“I heard… but… I mean, both?” Tommy’s fear was understandable, but it showed weakness that Gheneve knew was dangerous, for both of them.

“Yes, both.” Despite herself, she took pity on him. “Don’t worry, I’ll do the talking.” Not too much pity. “You’ve got to be ready for this, and you’ve done reports before. This is just a little trickier, watch and learn.” He smiled, and she felt herself soften a little. Then she shook her head. Neither of them can afford such weakness right now. She quickly ran over the details of the report with him. Good, he was not even commenting on the difference between the report and what happened. He was probably just too scared to think about it, but whatever worked.

She hurried through the halls and stairways to the big double doors of the conference room, Tommy on her heels. She touched the door with her index finger once. A pounding heartbeat later, the door opened by itself.

She led the way into the enormous room, unconsciously glancing quickly about. The doors shut with a dull sound behind them. She wasn't surprised that the room was poorly lit. The brightest light was the faint glow cast by the power button of the large computer monitor on the wall. She could feel Tommy’s anxiety, but there was nothing she could do about that. She quickly noticed there was no one sitting in the nine overstuffed chairs around the imposing teak table. She looked into the shadows of the two chairs by the window in one corner, and double checked the area in front of the computer monitor. She took a moment, brutally forcing herself to be calm.
I know I came to the right place. They said immediately. Stupid theatrics
, she thought, very carefully whispered in a deep place in her mind.

Without warning, without a sound, the table dropped into the floor. The chairs rolled away from her and Tommy, three of them just melting into shadow. The other six chairs lined up in a row across from them as shadows slid across their seats. Before they had stopped rolling, the shadows had grown, expanded like balloons, looking like holes into the void.

“Tommy,” one shadow said, “report.”

Even though he was looking at them, Tommy still jumped a little.

Gheneve tried to pretend. “As directed…”

The voice interrupted again, with power this time. “I asked Tommy to report.”

Gheneve blanched, but wasn’t really thinking. “No, but he doesn’t even need to be here…”

“Need? We will decide what is needed. Tommy, report.” The last was a whip crack.

Gheneve slumped a little. Submission might be the best she could do for Tommy right now. It was certainly the best she could do for herself.

Tommy took a deep breath. His voice wavered, but he did well. “During routine monitoring the subject was witnessed Awakening.”

The shadows said nothing.

Tommy took another breath. “Unfortunately, he was monitored as saying that he was going to be, uh, changing primary address again and changing uh…primary schooling method to home-based. Per previously approved contingencies and using extreme caution, a
Reading was done.” He licked his lips. “Then, there was some sort of energy disturbance, like a Fire and Spirit combination, and the connection was lost.”

“When did the Awakening occur?” A second shadow cut him off.

“Just after the completion of the Reading,” Tommy said, his voice cracking a little. He put his hands behind his back. Gheneve could see they were shaking. She cringed internally as he started talking faster. “Since there wasn’t any real direct intervention, he probably didn’t notice anything. I have no idea what happened,” he repeated, “and there was no connection between his contact and, and this surge. Procedures were followed.” He was mercifully cut off again.

“You Read the boy?” A third shadow spoke with interest.

“Of course, I did that,” Gheneve jumped in. “And since there is no chance that such passive measures have led to an Awakening…” but she wasn’t allowed to finish.

The first shadow cut her off. “And what did your Read show? Is it possible he is so powerful that just his Awakening could have caused this surge?”

She was being led out! “Yes, the Read showed he is… I mean has the potential, with the proper training, of course, to be of the highest Grade. I know so little about Awakening, and even less of it in mus of such power, I cannot say more than that.” She considered adding her guess about the Wish Wand, but felt the shadows nod, look at each other. Her non-committal answer was the perfect evidence for what they wanted to hear.

A new shadow whispered, “The One is come.” It set off a swirl of voices that had Gheneve feeling dizzy, and Tommy looking anxiously at her more than once. “The One, of
prophecy,” said one. “Timing is critical. He must be brought in, and soon,” said another. “His parents are cripples, they can’t be trusted with his safety,” said another. “Yes, if the Rogues get to him first, all is lost,” urged another. “He won't come easily or quietly,” started a new voice. “Oh, he will once I am done with him,” came the quick answer. “But it must be done just so, carefully,” mixed in another.

The first voice cut through them all. “I now formally submit the plan, expecting this outcome. I say it should be implemented immediately.” A few moments of silence, then gathering murmur of tentative agreement.

“We must discuss details, contingencies,” started a voice.

The first voice cut through. “Let us dismiss these here, shall we?” After a pause, it continued. “Thank you two for your services to the Conclave. Your previous orders stand for now, monitor and report. The Conclave has spoken.”

The table rose from the floor and the chairs started to roll back before Gheneve and Tommy could walk swiftly out of the room. The voices rose again, cut off when the double doors closed behind Gheneve and Tommy. They sped down the hall and one set of stairs before slowing.

Gheneve was on her cell phone well before that. When a recorded voice had not even finished its first word, she punched in a few more numbers. There was a single ring before a breathless “Yes, sir” came through the speaker.

“My internet connection has been severed. Get a team out here and fix it.” She paused, thinking quickly. “The whole fiber optic line needs to be replaced. Better yet, I want two separate, double insulated lines of fiber optic laid, starting from the main switch point, one to my office and the other for the rest of the place.”

Gheneve could hear the man's loud voice on the other end start to say something in protest. She was expecting it and held the ear-piece away, but the mouthpiece close. “Money is not an issue. Your annual report is not my concern. I don't want to hear anything other than when this will be done. Just like,” she continued, putting force behind each word, “you don’t want to hear that you were fired, your wife doesn’t want to hear about your little problem, and your two kids don’t want to hear they were expelled from their very exclusive school.” She paused. “So, when will this be done?”

Gheneve nodded, and hung up. The schedule for the next several days was going to be a mess. Everyone would need new orders. She needed to prepare for several different contingencies.

“How do you think they will bring… uh… the target in?” Tommy asked.

“Yes? Oh, there are any number of ways,” she answered.

“Do you think CJ will still be needed?”

She sighed. She never liked Tommy’s use of him, but she had to be prepared. “They will likely need CJ to help convince the Rightad boy. He’s going to be pretty fragile until he can fully grasp the truth.”

Tommy shook his head. “I don’t get it. He’s supposed to be so powerful, why did you even have to…?”

Gheneve whirled on him before he could finish, grabbing his arm, and pulling him so close she could feel her breath reflected off his face. He winced and tried to recoil, but he had nowhere to go and just hit the wall of the hallway. Her eyes bored into his. “I only Read him, remember?” she hissed. “Don’t ever even think of anything but what you report, got it?” She was suddenly aware that she could feel the bone in his arm, and relaxed her grip. However, her stare didn’t lessen its intensity. “The Conclave didn’t ask, and you have no right to question their orders. And your father knows what he’s doing—did you see how he helped us out in there?” She just stared at him for a moment, saw herself reflected in his eyes. She forced her mouth into a smile, and patted his shoulder. “Its better if you don’t think about it, just do what you are told,” she said. “By the time you are ready to deal with it, all of this will be in the past.”