Chimera (The Weaver Series Book 1)

by Vaun Murphrey

  He said, “Malcolm left your house key on the coffee table. Make sure you lock the door.”

  Something in James’ facial expression seemed too tense, almost artificial, and I wondered if he was hiding the way he felt, even from himself.

  Silver asserted acerbically, “Well, he better be hiding he isn’t a jerk behind all that pompous ‘adult’ behavior. We need to talk when they leave.”

  “I’ll make sure it’s locked,” I promised as I ushered them both out. The wind blew dirt in my face before I could close the door all the way. I didn’t envy them their walk. I leaned my back against the closed door. Since there was no one to hear me, I asked aloud, “What would you like to talk to me about?”

  “I don’t have to solve our energy drain problem anymore. Romeo and Mighty Mouth did it for us.”

  Chapter Thirteen: Human Power Plants

  “What do you mean, Silver?” I was still talking out loud, but she’d surprised me enough I probably would have regardless, no matter who was around.

  “Take stock of how you feel, Sister. Are you tired anymore?”

  I paused, actually paying attention to the physical state of my body and was astonished by how spectacular I felt. I could still feel the bruise on my thigh and the sore spot on my big toe from kicking Malcolm, but other than that I was excellent.

  “That was just a few seconds of contact with Kara and James. What do you think a longer hit would do? I bet we can heal Maggie’s nose today and not even feel a dent in our resources.”

  I exhaled in a relieved burst. “I guess this is good news if you don’t factor in James thinks I’m crazy now.”

  “He’ll get over himself. You could always seduce him.”

  “That’s not even funny, Silver.” I found myself in front of the couch and picked up the blanket I had knocked to the floor earlier in my mad dash. The act of doing something so normal at my leisure after the last two days of revelations was heavenly and peaceful. I matched the corners to fold the soft blanket into a messy rectangle. When I finished, I held it up to my nose and inhaled the scent of lavender that brought Maggie immediately to mind. I raised my head and tossed the folded mess onto a cushion.

  “Silver, I don’t think I should tell Maggie and Gerome about you before I heal her nose. You saw how James reacted. It didn’t go well at all. I’m not sure how many people should know about us. What if they think we’re sick and try to put us in a psych ward or something? Neither one of us could stand it if someone locked us up again.”

  Silver was silent, but I could almost hear her sort through my concerns one by one.

  “You know, I have my bones with Maggie, but that’s mostly jealousy on my part. I don’t think she would let Gerome, or anyone else, lock us up even if she thought we were bug nuts. As for Gerome, after he went to all the trouble of rescuing us, I sincerely doubt he would let someone commit us. Our uncle would be far more likely to break us out of a place like that than to put us in it. The other point I have to make is that eventually we are going to reach a level of skill that no one, not even the Soul Eater, will be able to hold us against our will.”

  My sister seemed so confident I wondered at the reason behind it. Maybe she had her own dreams?

  I released the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and went to finish washing the plates. The screwdriver I had brought inside shone brightly in the light from the fixture over the table.

  The wind threatened to blow the house down. That observation brought to mind the Tale of the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs. I thought about someone trying to blow my house down and take away everything we’d built here. The thought made me angry.

  Was I so weak I would just lay down when I ran up against another person’s doubts about us? The world would go as it would go, not as I or anyone else would have it. Those that came against us would have to learn to adapt or fall behind. I wasn’t about to hide from the unknown. Oh no, Silver and I were going to run down the unknown until it was known.

  Silver growled in my mind.

  “That’s the sister I know and love. Let’s kick butt and take names.”

  “Sure thing…right after we wash the dishes and mop up the rest of Malcolm’s muddy footprints.”

  “Buzzkill.”

  I smiled so widely at her sour response my lips felt as if they would split.

  “Just because I had an epiphany doesn’t mean we get to charge out of the house like Vikings into glorious battle and conquer the day. We still have to learn how to work together. You need physical time, and I need Web time. You said it was better to teach me at night, but I say right this moment is the perfect time for you learn how to pilot our body.”

  Silver whooped so loud my ears popped. I clutched at my head. “Ow.”

  All I got was a very suspect apology.

  “Sorry, sorry.”

  “Okay, how do I give you the reins?”

  “Relax, close your eyes if it helps and lower your awareness of your body like when you go into the Web.”

  I rolled my shoulders then stared at the ceiling without seeing it. I closed my eyes. The inside of my eyelids danced with colors, and I took deep breaths until I felt my center.

  My eyes opened but I wasn’t conscious of making the decision, and one of my hands rose turning this way and that in the light. I thought I should open my mouth to ask Silver if she was moving my hand, but I couldn’t get my lips to move.

  Instead, I sent Silver a question on a tight mental beam. “Hey, did you do that?” The room tilted as my head bowed and I could tell I was clutching my head again. When Silver spoke, it even sounded slightly different, at least, to me.

  “Not so loud!” Silver complained. “Now I know why you gripe about that, lesson learned, point taken…whatever.”

  “Turn on the faucet and finish washing the plates,” I instructed.

  “Did you suggest this merely to have someone else do chores besides yourself? If so, this whole piloting thing sucks!”

  “Baby steps, Silver.” It was surreal watching my own hand reach for the knob marked with an indented ‘C’. “Is there a reason you’re moving in slow motion?”

  My body jumped as if it was startled.

  Silver said, “I take over for short bursts of movement every now and again, not run the whole show, Cassandra. I’m concentrating.”

  “Don’t think so hard, relax. How about I distract you? You can tell me what you think it is that happened when James and Kara gave us our boost.”

  Silver took a deep breath and finally put my hand on the knob, gripped it tightly, and began to turn it until the water came out in a steady stream. I could tell the metal was cool and hard under my hand, but being an observer as I was it became a distant sensation.

  “I only had a second to experience the power influx just the same as you,” Silver finally answered. “I could guess, but it would only be a guess. What you told Malcolm earlier about Weavers possibly developing a new gift, moving fast in a short burst of energy, how did that occur to you?”

  I tried to shrug then remembered I couldn’t and replied, “I don’t know. I watched James move, and my eyes lost track of him for a second even though I was paying close attention. If you add that together with the surge when we hit Malcolm, it makes sense the energy could be pulled not just to hit harder but also to move faster.”

  Silver reached into the sink and grabbed the edge of a plate to tilt it up but lost her grip on it when she went for the soapy sponge with my other hand. The plate almost broke and the clatter as it landed on another one below it made her jump.

  Frustration was beginning to bloom in my sister, so I soothed Silver with a mental ‘hand’ then continued calmly, “Perhaps this phenomenon is more powerful when more than one Weaver pools their resources. I’m not sure if that’s a viable theory though because people touch each other all the time so you would think another occurrence would get noticed. It’s not a sensation one would dismiss.”

  My lips pressed tight
ly together, and Silver was clenched my jaw so hard it made the muscles at the back of my neck tighten.

  “This isn’t as easy as I thought it would be, Cassandra. We used to switch back and forth when we were little, but that was forever ago. I think I’ve forgotten. What if I can’t do it anymore?”

  I blew a raspberry at Silver by remembering the sound of one and thinking it at her. “Quitter.”

  The view of the room rotated slightly. Probably Silver rolling our eyes.

  “You could be a little more sympathetic. I’m going to be a much nicer teacher in the Web.”

  “I just bet! Okay, first, stop clenching your jaw because you’re going to give us a migraine…good. Roll your shoulders and take deep breaths until you feel a little more relaxed…good. Now instead of trying to pick up the plate first, grab the sponge, wash the surface of the plate while it’s lying flat then set down the sponge on the edge of the sink and pick up the plate to rinse it off.”

  She moved with more confidence this time. “Alright, you’re doing it! Okay, now carry the wet plate with both hands over to the towel on top of the dry plate already on the counter. Let go of the plate with one hand and grab the cloth with the other. Excellent! When the plate is dry, set it down on top of the other plate gently then put the towel on top again.”

  I noticed Silver’s movements were getting more fluid the longer I spoke. She clapped my hands together and went directly to the next plate without comment.

  Once we finished the dishes, my sister grumbled, “Do I really have to scrub the floor like Cinderella?”

  “It’s just a few spots. Kara got most of it.”

  I instructed Silver regarding what drawer the hand towels were in, talked her through getting it wet and wringing the excess water out, then talked her through kneeling on the floor. We did pretty well until our hand slipped on the slick floorboards and we almost did a face plant because Silver didn’t react as fast as I would have.

  All in all, she did great for a first session, but I was ready to be back in charge. “Hey, what do you say we call it a day?”

  “Not yet. I want to do one more thing if you don’t mind.”

  I could feel a building anticipation in Silver about whatever it was she wished to do as she stood and carried the wet, muddy rag we had scrubbed the floor with down the hall into the laundry room to drop it in the washing machine.

  “So…what is it you want to do, Silver?”

  “You’ll see.”

  She walked into our room straight to the table next to the bed and pulled out my notepad. My first instinct was to get angry because she was invading my privacy, but who was I kidding? Silver already knew what I wrote before it was even on paper. My hand smoothed over a page after it was open, feeling the slight indentation of the written words.

  My sister picked up my pen from the drawer where it was rocking back and forth still, then flipped through my notepad until a blank page presented itself. Our hand blocked some of what she wrote at first, but then I could see in very shaky childish handwriting:

  I AM REAL, AND I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU. SILVER

  I would have probably gotten teary eyed if I was in control of my body but instead I sent a mental hug. Silver closed the notepad and put it away.

  “Okay, now I’m ready to switch.”

  Suddenly I was blinking, and Silver was a familiar presence in my mind like the soft weight of a blanket in bed.

  “We need to keep thinking about our human batteries.”

  And just like that, she was back to being her snarky self.

  “Don’t call them that, Silver, it’s insulting. You don’t know they have energy stored like a battery, so you’re being inaccurate as well.”

  “What would you call it then? Are they human power plants?”

  I shrugged and let my mind wander a minute pondering the mystery of the energy surge at the table with Kara and James. “Think about their personalities. Kara is vivacious.”

  “And slightly vacuous,” Silver inserted.

  I continued unfazed. “James is a steady placid sort, so maybe it’s certain types of people that have to touch, not just anyone. Perhaps, akin to magnets, the right Weavers are drawn together to form a connection that increases their energy, like the biggest particle accelerator you could imagine in the Web.” As the thought crossed my lips, I felt a certainty in my gut I was on the right track.

  Silver picked up on my emotions and asked in a serious tone, finally all business, “I have those kinds of instinctual leaps too, Cassandra. I’ve got no clue where they come from either. One of those gut feelings made me take the chance to ‘fix’ Kara’s DNA. It felt like the right thing to do. Is it scaring you, too?”

  I considered the question. Was I afraid of having an understanding of something without knowing the source of information? Nothing I had conceived of so far had caused anyone harm. Silver had helped Kara, saved her life even. The girl in the grass was different because I hadn’t enjoyed being cut off from my sister, but otherwise I had probably averted a death.

  “I don’t think I’m scared. I think I’m curious.”

  Interrupting, someone banged on the door. I padded on bare feet down the short hall and into the living room area to stare intently at the varnished wood as if I possessed x-ray vision.

  “I don’t think we should answer it.”

  I thought back to Silver just in case the person on the other side could hear me. “We’ll wait to see if they speak up and we recognize the voice. Otherwise, I’m not sure opening a locked door to anyone, but people we trust is a good idea. Gerome made a mistake. He should have given us a phone or sent someone home with us.”

  I guess I could have peeked through the front window but then they would see me, too, or, at least, see the curtain move.

  “It’s a little late now.”

  The person knocked again, and I heard a strident female voice over the wind.

  “Cassandra, are you in there? It’s Melody. Malcolm sent me to check on you.”

  I went to turn the lock but asked first, “Why didn’t Malcolm come himself?”

  Melody laughed a short, chuffing sound. “Because he’s tied up with the police answering questions right now, just like Gerome. Maggie’s at the clinic by herself until Nicky gets back. Are you going to open the door or not?”

  After the initial amusement, her voice took on an impatient tone, and I could hear the wind was still pushing against the house in gusts. I thought to Silver. “So?”

  “Sending Melody sounds reasonable.”

  I turned the lock the rest of the way and pulled the door inward, backing up in the entryway. Sure enough, Melody stood on our porch steps frowning until she saw me. A smile I think she meant to be reassuring spread across her lips. My neck was going to get a permanent crick in it from looking up at all of the tall people in my life.

  When she noticed my feet were bare, she frowned again and stepped across the threshold. As she shut the door and shrugged off her coat, she remarked, “Aren’t your feet cold, sweetie?”

  “No, I'm good.”

  “It’s your toes, I guess. We can stay here for a little bit and see if the wind will die down or we can just head out after you get dressed. Gerome didn’t want you here by yourself, so he asked Malcolm to have me walk you over to Maggie at the clinic.”

  Melody hung her coat on one of the wall hooks next to me and looked down at her boots, which were only slightly muddy. She sighed as she bent down to unlace them. Her demeanor was much less official than it had been at the school yesterday as if it mattered that I wasn’t a potential student anymore.

  “Don’t worry about taking them off. I’ll just get socks and shoes on. I don’t see any point in waiting on the wind. It may get worse not better.”

  Melody straightened, and her eyes were shining obsidian pools in the light. I could barely tell the difference between her pupil and iris.

  “I hate the cold, wet months,” she confessed.

  I gave a slight
smile in response before dashing to my room. As I rooted around in one of my drawers, I looked at myself in the mirror then yelled to Melody, “If you hate the weather here so much, why don’t you leave?” I just wanted to see what she would say.

  Melody started to answer me in a louder voice but lowered it when I emerged.

  “I’m in charge of the children’s education here, and I enjoy it. Then there’s the fact that I don’t have to watch out for Warp squads over my shoulder while I live in a compound. Malcolm and I could probably go anywhere we wanted, even another compound, but there are more rescued Weavers here than anywhere else.”

  I sat in Gerome’s favorite loveseat and lifted a foot to put on a sock. “What do you mean there are more rescued Weavers here than anywhere else?”

  Melody explained. “This compound held out the longest against the new policies of the Council. The Lees were the last family to live with Outsiders searching for unidentified Weavers. I handle a lot of the younger rescued Weavers and help them adjust. It’s something I enjoy, and I’m afraid if I leave, no one will take care of them the same way that I do. Times have changed. I remember when the barracks were mostly for rescued Weavers, not security and young adults that don’t want to live with their parents.”

  I had both socks on now and rose to grab my boots from under the coat hooks. “In Malcolm’s class, I noticed a boy named Smith. Is he a rescue? How do we even find a Weaver who doesn’t know what they are? It seems like that would be searching out a needle in a haystack.”

  Melody warmed to the subject as I sat down again. “In a way, it can be like searching for a needle in a haystack if you don’t look in the right places. Most of the younger spontaneous Weavers get misdiagnosed with mental illnesses because they can’t form a proper path to the Web, but their mind keeps trying. Eventually, they do go insane or catatonic. A lot of us volunteered or worked at places that offered mental health treatment, like hospitals. Even being a social worker or seeking employment at an agency that helped runaways you could find a lot of unidentified Weavers.”