by Lynne Murray
“So what do you say, yes?" Francine crooned.
I screamed, "No!" The pressure in my mind vanished. "That’s vile. That's how you got Carroll Caine to do what you wanted, isn’t it? You just promised him something you thought he wanted?”
Francine's voice fell into an unnerving chilly tone. "It was pretty clear what he wanted. He was a small man who wanted to be a big hero. He wanted to save his nation. We just explained that the best way to do that was to expose hidden agents like you who are working to hurt the country he loved and served."
"And you dug into his mind and used it to control him.”
“With the help of some physical implants, yes.” Francine took on the impatient tone of an expert who disliked instructing others. The real monster spoke.
“That's disgusting.”
“I'm not the one who killed him.”
“If you think I’m allowing you into my brain with your little sales pitch, forget it.” I tried to make my voice firm, but I could feel the heat in my cheeks.
I stole a brief glance up at Wade. “It's a mental control thing she's trying to do," I said
"I can tell that," Wade said. “Did she mention how she opened that portal?”
Francine's voice seemed to surround to me, "Why do you trust these people? I’ve known you longer than they have.” Her urgent tone seemed to pull out every doubt I had. I could almost feel the predator in her grab my doubts and expand on them. I fought to clear my head.
I made eye contact with Feeney. “The question, is she—or maybe I should say ‘it’?”
“It is correct, this species takes on the gender of the host during the time of infestation,” Feeney answered. “It does not reproduce sexually.”
“Is it is lying to get my cooperation?” I was confused and deeply embarrassed at how tempted I was to listen to the creature inhabiting Francine.
“Your other new friends are the ones who might be lying,” Francine interrupted. “Or they might just be fooled by cultures more ancient than you could imagine. I never lie. Ask the Phoenix.”
I met Feeney’s eyes. “Does she lie?”
“Her kind do not lie. In fact, I think they are not capable of lying,” he said. “In their natural form, they have no mouth and do not communicate with spoken language. They are expert at emotional telepathy and they are famous for bargaining. After thousands of years of preying on humans, they know how to frame their words in order to deceive without lying. They depend on the human desire to believe a fantasy that will fulfill their own wishes.”
“You have been chosen to save the planet, Angie,” Francine chimed in. “Join us and you could be the ruler of this and many other worlds.”
“When she says that you were chosen, that means that she chose you to infest. She plans to take over your body and use you, your powers, your medallion, your job with the Extraterrestrial Protection Agency, all of that for her own purposes,” Feeney added. “If you interpret being Chosen in another way, she is only lying by omitting her true motives and that doesn’t qualify as untruth by her rules.”
“I have heard of the risks of bargains with the Fae,” I said, remembering stories from books I had thought were fiction.
I heard Kirby and Chad come down the hall. They joined Larry, Grandmother and Wade, crowding to peer around me as I stood in the doorway.
I heard a click, someone, probably Kirby, was recording Feeney’s words. The Phoenix nodded at them.
“Angie’s grandfather and I often spoke of these parasites. We called them Bodysnatchers.”
I had an image of my grandfather and Feeney watching vintage horror movies together. I banished it immediately and kept staring at Francine. She stared back patiently. Suddenly I felt like a mouse stranded out in the open with nowhere to hide from an infinitely patient cat.
“Bodysnatchers take over a host’s body and masquerade as the host until it dies or they move to a better host. Ask your medallion.”
I send a query to the Medallion. The red letter readout on my glasses still registered Feeney as a Phoenix and Francine as human.
An answer appeared in my mind. I read it out loud.
Highly Dangerous parasite from an unexplored dimension. Commonly known as Glow Worms due to visible blue aura. Also called Bodysnatchers when they infest and control a host. Not studied in detail due to the danger of invasive telepathy. May have links to legends of magical beings offering three wishes or magical powers.
A chill went up my spine.
“How did they do this body snatching?” I queried the Medallion out loud/
The Medallion was silent.
Feeney cleared his throat. “We haven't been able to observe that,” he said. “They honor no laws except their own. I agree with your source that they are too dangerous for humans to approach.”
Eeek! He didn’t have to mention that he was standing right behind her.
“You did not accept Francine's bargain, Angie,” Feeney continued. “There is hope for you, grandchild of Jacob Faust. Possessing your body would be the only way anyone outside your genetic line could control the Medallion.” He paused. There is a way to banish her permanently.”
“Space bird, you wouldn’t dare,” Francine’s voice took on a deeper, threatening tone. “She killed my human servant.”
“You manipulated Carroll Caine to bait her. You sent human thieves to break into her home to find the Seeker Medallion before she could merge with it. You want to control a Seeker Medallion through her,” Feeney said sternly. “You hunted her, Francine. That much is clear.”
I felt a release of the intense pressure in my mind as Francine’s concentration moved over to Kirby.
“You can see your employee is dangerous, Mr. Kirby. She wears an ETPA official amulet and puts your entire command in grave danger from the Death Dealers. She will kill in great numbers. You must help me control her.”
I glanced at Kirby. His face couldn't get any paler, but his shocked expression told me that she was mining his worst fears.
Feeney spoke in a tone of deep authority. “Glow Worm, you are seeking a power you have not come by honestly, nor bought, nor traded for. You are trespassing in this portal. You have had a chance to leave now.”
“Not without Angie. This host is no use to me now.”
“Then you force us to act. Letting a Bodysnatcher go without consequences is an invitation for a repeat visitation,” Feeney said. “This confinement box is only set up to briefly hold intruders. Angie, this is your space and your decision. Between us, we have the tools to eliminate the Bodysnatcher. What do you want to do with her?”
Chapter 30
A blinding realization struck me. When I first took the job at the law firm, Francine had been nice to me. It wasn’t until Caine took the office manager job that she became my worst enemy. Was the real Francine still in there? The one who had existed before this creature took over her life?
“Is there anything left of Francine if this creature dies?”
Feeney surprised me by answering. "She is there. She could survive."
“Is there a way to extract the parasite without killing the host?”
“Ask your Medallion,” Feeney said.
How is a Bodysnatcher removed without killing the host? I queried the Medallion.
Don't touch. Use the gauntlets in the chest.
What chest, where?
In the cabinet across from the foot of the bed.
No one else could hear the Medallion. “Can someone get me a set of gauntlets from the cabinet opposite the foot of the bed?”
Wade took a breath.
“I’ll go,” Kirby spoke up from behind me as if he knew how much the touch of Wade’s hand was anchoring me.
I could hear Kirby passing behind me over to the cabinet, trying the doors. “It's locked,” he said.
I queried the Medallion Can you unlock the cabinet?
I heard a click and everyone in the room went deathly still.
A moment later Kirby app
eared at my elbow and handed me a set of thick leather gauntlets.
Put them on.
Wade let go of my hand so I could pull on the gauntlets. He stayed close but moved back to let me work. I pulled the gloves over my wrists. The cuffs covered me all the way over my elbows. They were too big, but after a moment, they clung to my skin. It didn’t feel like they were about to fall off.
The Medallion sent the words through my mind.
Squeeze the eyepieces of your glasses to shield your eyes.
I squeezed the glasses and they closed up around my eyes like goggles. I couldn’t help but say, “That’s nifty.”
“If she touches your skin, you may be subject to her infestation," Feeney said softly. “Just reach through the membrane with the gauntlets. Don't put your arm in too far.
I walked up to the barrier. Francine stepped so close that she almost touched it. “Would you like three wishes?” she said in a cajoling tone.
I queried the Medallion
How do I use the gauntlets to extract this parasite?
Press the gauntlets against the box.
I could feel the transparent barrier give under my gloved hands. I reached toward Francine. She flinched backward. Feeney stood behind her, there was nowhere to go.
“How?” I asked.
“Feeney,” I said. “If I remove the parasite can you dispose of it?”
Feeney nodded. “Grab her. Extract it. Put it in my hands.”
“The man beside you can be your consort,” Francine crooned. She seemed to be putting an extra sparkle in her voice. She wasn't just shining, she was shooting out spikes of light like a Fourth of July sparkler.
I reached through the barrier. The gauntlet penetrated it up to just below the elbow. Feeney lunged forward and shoved Francine right into my hands. I grabbed at her and got one hand on her elbow, the other around the back of her neck.
I pulled with all my might. Her head smacked against the transparent barrier. It bulged a little but held. My glasses were pressed to the other side of it. I looked into her eyes. The cloud of black dots swarmed around her like a dense swarm of gnats.
The world spun around me and suddenly I felt confused.
Feeney moved forward and pinned her against the barrier.
I queried the Medallion
How do I get this damn thing out of her?
Touch the inner corner of her eye.
“Press your finger just at the edge of her eye,” Feeney said.
Wade leaned down. “Can you see what you're supposed to pull out?"
I didn’t shift my focus away from Francine. The sparkle around her dimmed. I kept my left hand gripping her elbow and moved my right glove around the side of her neck, along her cheek and into the corner of her left eye.
I pressed. My stomach quaked, half afraid of damaging her eyeball. The tip of a nearly transparent tentacle peeked out, stuck to the glove.
I started to gently pull. The tentacle emerging from her eye was as wide as a thick strand of yarn. I kept a steady pressure. It kept unreeling. As the worm emerged it swelled until it was as wide as my finger.
Francine started to scream, trying to squirm away.
Feeney immobilized her and I kept a firm grip on her elbow. I hesitated.
"Let's sing our battle song," Wade said.
“Okay,” I started to sing in a shaky voice, “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, evil parasite.” I sang, hauled at the tentacle which emerged until I could wrap it around the glove. It was silly, but the song drove out all doubt. I pulled until the coil wrapped around the glove a second time. I feared I might lose my hold on it, or the strand would break.
I moved the glove slowly away and pulled. The tentacle kept emerging, sliding out, and out, and out, like a glimmering worm. When I reached about a foot out, I twisted my hand to wrap the worm around my hand again till I was back near her eye. I started to pull out again.
And again.
How long was this thing?
Up close to the worm, with it wrapped around the palm of my glove I saw clouds of black dots moved under the transparent surface.
Feeney reached around Francine and slipped his long, thin hand along the palm of my hand under the coil. He grasped the coil and held it away without breaking it.
“Slide your hand back to her eye and keep pulling,” his voice was calm but concentrated. “I’ll keep taking up the slack.”
I wrapped my glove around the worm, extracting more and more.
Feeney added his weight to my hauling effort. I kept wrapping the long stretch of worm around my hand and Feeney kept transferring it to his hand, keeping a gentle, sustained pressure on the twitching worm.
Wade kept singing with me until the last inch of whatever it was that infested Francine came free. I raised my hands and let Feeney peel the last of the sticky length of it off my glove. My arm was shaking. My voice faltered into silence.
Feeney backed away his arms full of what looks like a glowing thread of pasta from hell. No, it was transparent and inside it was swarming with black dots.
"Pull the human out. Now!" Feeney commanded. “Quickly!”
“Come on, Francine!” I yelled. I grabbed her shoulders and dragged her through the barrier. Sophie and Chad stepped up to pull her to safety in the hall.
Feeney smashed down a transparent partition between himself and the body of Francine. As she came free into the room, the barrier sealed.
Feeney and the worm wrapped around his hands exploded into flames.
I was less than five feet away, but I felt no heat as an inferno exploded in the transparent box a foot from my body. “Feeney’s in there,” I moaned and, like a fool, I reached a hand to touch the transparent barrier.
Wade pulled me away from the fire-filled box. “Come on, Angie, don’t take risks.”
“It’s not hot,” I marveled.
We all stood clustered in the doorway. Black shadows moved inside the flames and then were consumed. Slowly, the flames burned down to embers until only a pile of silvery dust and blackened ash remained.
Chapter 31
We stood there. No one said a word. Then something in the silvery ash pile moved and began to glow with a greenish flame. A form inside the fire contorted and twisted, taking shape. Long spindles like bones begin to draw together. Slowly a man-sized bird reassembled itself, absorbing and rising out of the white ashes. Feathers flowed over his flesh and then vanished into it. As a strong face took form, a beak appeared and spit out black particles into a pile at the far edge of the box. When that was done, the huge bird morphed into the shape of the Feeney we knew—only different. The only sign of plumage that remained was the crest hair. His silver top knot now closer to blond than white. Feeney wore the same sweater and corduroy pants but looked twenty years younger.
He shook his body as if he was wet and regarded us solemnly.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
“I am, but I need to destroy this.” Feeney produced a miniature version of the transparent box from some invisible pocket. He placed it near the pile of black particles. The small box sucked all the particles in. Feeney sealed it up with a gesture over the top. He held it up for us to see. “Probably dead. But I’m taking no chances,” he said. Then he backed up out of the transparent box and the entire portal winked out of existence. The space between me and the back wall of Grandpa’s room was just a few feet of hardwood floor ending at the blank wall.
I turned to where Sophie and Chad were holding Francine. She stood totally still, not even watching Feeney’s resurrection. Now she raised her face to look into my eyes with an expression of total confusion. No sign of the malevolent cruelty that I had seen in her over the last year.
Her knees gave way and Chad stepped forward to support her.
“Angie?” She said softly. “Angie from work. I don't know where I am but I feel like I've had the most horrible dream.” She looked up at Chad, supporting her, and her features softened. “Hi,” she said.
&n
bsp; Sophie too Francine’s other arm and leaned close to her. “I’m Sophie and this is my husband, Chad. We can give you a ride home,” she said.
Francine didn’t seem upset but she didn’t take her eyes off Chad. He had that effect on women. They led her into the front room, keeping up a series of gentle questions. “Do you remember how you got here?”
Francine shook her head, still staring at Chad. “I’ve seen you somewhere before.”
“We can talk about that,” Sophie said. “But first of all where do you live?
I heard the front door close as Sophie and Chad walked Francine out.
I looked up at Wade, still standing next to me.
“Wow,” I said.
“Wow indeed.”
Grandmother, Kirby and Larry had moved down the hall. “Do you have coffee?” Kirby asked.
“Only tea,” I said.
“I have coffee,” Larry said. “And tea and homemade snacks. You can meet Bunnasaurus Rex, he’s very good at lowering stress levels.”
We all looked at Grandmother. She seemed to understand without a word our anxiety for Larry’s rabbit in her presence. She walked up to me and tapped my shoulder. “Good work, nestling,” she said. “You didn’t take the bait. We didn’t have to kill you.” She turned and went out of the hall and out the door without another word.
“That lady is kind of terrifying,” Larry said.
“You have no idea,” I replied. “She’s on our side but she’s, um, allergic to pets, so she shouldn’t go in your apartment.”
“Got it.” Larry nodded. I had the feeling he understood exactly what I was suggesting, which was good. Bunnasaurus Rex was a sweet little rabbit who deserved to be protected. “Let’s go up the back stairs.”
A few minutes later we were in Larry’s front room. His apartment was much homier and tidier than mine with hot drinks, brownies and lemon bars on his mom’s next best china, arranged on a coffee table. Kirby sat on the sofa and the little black-furred rabbit immediately hopped over flopped next to him on the sofa.