It was the psycho accountant from yesterday. He had combed his hair, trimmed his beard, and his eyes were clear as he stood there wearing the standard fuzzy white bathrobe. Guilt flooded through me when I saw the cast on his right arm. I could almost feel the bones breaking again. His face was drawn, but he smiled at Dr. Anderson.
The doctor stopped in front of him and introduced me. “Senator Gayle, this is Finn Morgenstern. He’s the young man who cured you yesterday. Finn, this is Senator Gayle.”
That little tidbit stunned me. I’m not much into politics, but not recognizing the Senior Senator of Ohio was a bit over the top. Now that I knew who he was, I recognized him easily. His charismatic personality totally dominated his looks and rendered them unimportant. Once again, he was everyone’s favorite grandfather. How could I have missed it? I had heard that he had some sort of breakdown, but I had never given it a second thought.
The senator got up from his seat, smiling from ear to ear. He used both hands when he shook mine, covering mine in a warm clasp. It was the perfect handshake. He didn’t try to crush me, and he didn’t just go limp. His was the shake of a man of confidence and reliability.
“Son, I’m forever in your debt. The doctor has told me some difficult things to swallow, but in the end, the voices are gone and you banished that… horror that had me in its grip.” He shuddered. “That’s what counts. Thank you. It’s not adequate, but it is heartfelt.”
“Wow, I had no idea!” I said uncertainly. “Uh, sure, no problem.” I then blurted out, “I’m really sorry about your arm!”
He raised his arm and showed off the cast ruefully. “It was a small price to pay for getting rid of that thing. I was trying to kill you, after all.”
“What do you remember about it?” I asked.
“Everything. It was like being consumed by the Devil. Hatred and hunger overwhelmed me. I didn’t care about anything or anyone. I left my room to go hunting…I saw that young woman and I…” The haunting memory filled his eyes.
I winced and Dr. Anderson smoothly inserted himself into the conversation. “Senator, you’re still tired. I want you to rest, but I did want you to meet young Finn.”
The Senator pasted on his sincere and genuine smile again and said, “Thank you for that. Son, if I could impose upon you sometime in the next few days, I’d love to sit down over coffee and find out more about the young man who saved me from that vile thing.”
I promised to stop by and then followed the doctor out the door.
“Doc, I don’t understand. I thought you said the senator wasn’t shadow-ridden before yesterday.”
He glanced back at me quickly but didn’t slow his walk. “I didn’t think he was.”
“Hmm. We know where the shadow riding him yesterday came from , but if he wasn’t ridden before that, why would he be having night terrors bad enough to make him seek you out?”
“That’s an excellent question, Finn. Maybe it was a small one and I couldn’t sense it. Perhaps you’ll help me figure out the answer to that.”
I didn’t have much time to mull that over. He led me through an open door to see Holly at a table much too large for her. She was kneeling on a chair, half sprawled over the tabletop on her elbows, coloring. When Dr. Anderson said hello, she saw me, and cried out, “Finn!” She jumped from her chair, ran to me, and gave me a whopping big hug.
Despite her small size, that hug struck me hard. I don’t think I’d ever meant that much to anyone—except my parents perhaps. I hugged her back. She was so tiny that her face pressed into my stomach, and she was about as thick around as a pencil. I could feel her backbone and ribs easily. We stood that way for quite some time. When I finally pushed her gently away, her eyes were shining. “I’m so glad you’re here!”
My own eyes got a little shiny, too. “Me too, kiddo.”
Her smile grew bigger, and she hugged me again. Her aura was now complete and a golden green, instead of its original bright green. It had gained significantly in strength. Thinking about Jen’s color change, I briefly wondered what a color change meant, but it was clear that Holly was much better off than yesterday. She pulled away and ran to the table. She picked up one of the drawings there and presented it to me.
“I made this for you.”
I took the paper. There were two not-quite-stick figures—one small and one tall. The tall one had his arms up in the air and between them was a heavy black scribble. It was obvious she had spent a lot of time making it as black as possible. The simple lines and the power of the message almost made me cry.
“It’s you and me. You’re taking away the bad thing. Do you like it?”
“I love it!” I started blinking tears away and gave her another hug.
She said into my shirt, “I love you, Finn.”
I never realized what a heavy word “love” could be.
We stayed for a while with Holly. Before we left, I reassured her that I’d come back and see her again. Dr. Anderson led me down the hall to our next destination. I could guess what was coming.
“Spirit, I fear thee more than all the rest,” I said.
That didn’t get the smile I had hoped for. He continued walking as he answered somberly,“… With good reason.”
We came to a locked room. When he opened the door, I never even saw the room. My attention focused on the man inside. He was in a bed with the head pushed against the far wall. I vaguely recognized him from a few days before, but he was as still as death. The thick black shadow surrounding him covered him from head to toe, and it utterly hid any hint of the man’s aura.
As soon as I entered the room, the pool of blackness moved in a slow wave down Daniel’s body toward me. It bulged just beyond his feet and quivered as if struggling to pull itself free of Daniel. Multiple tendrils emerged from the oily blackness and stretched for me before falling back into the main mass.
Daniel started thrashing on the bed. He struggled for a moment, muttered, and then fell quiescent. Occasional violent shivers wracked his body. He did this several times while we watched. Once or twice I thought I might be able to make out words like “cold” or “death.”
The whole time, Dr. Anderson stood next to me splitting his attention between Daniel and me. Finally, he placed his hand on my shoulder and led me from the room. He closed the door behind us. For a moment, his stare seemed to bore into my soul. I had no idea what he was hoping to find.
“Finn,” he said at last, “how could I see what we just saw and not believe in things I cannot see? I watched you work with each one of these people. I saw their interactions with you, and I saw the results. What I didn’t see, was anything that you did. I watched a little girl launch herself at you like a rabid attack dog and land unconscious in your arms. I watched you sit beside that little girl, looking at nothing, doing nothing, and today she’s more alive and happy than she has ever been. She has gone from being barely functional, angry, temperamental, and sometimes violent, to being a little girl who can draw her nightmares. You have fundamentally changed her, Finn, and we have no idea of the depth of that change.
“After you left last night, I saw the Senator become deranged, terrified, and terrifying. When I saw you next, you were on top of the senator on the floor. You commanded me to pick him up slowly. I did as you asked, and now he’s back to being the dynamic person he was ten years ago. He had come into this facility stressed, fearful for his life, and convinced that something evil was stalking him.”
Dr. Anderson stopped and stared at me again as if searching for answers in my eyes. I didn’t know how to answer him, or if he was asking a question.
“Finn, after seeing all this, if you tell me that you own a magic crystal that somehow possesses people, what sort of fool would I be to dismiss it out of hand? I can’t see what you see, but I can see the results.
“What you need to understand is that there are real results to your actions. Serious, life-changing results. You’re not a child anymore, and you cannot act like one. We’re not
playing here. If you’re going to operate at this level and change lives, you have a responsibility to do it carefully, with consideration and compassion. You might tell yourself that you have to operate alone, because no one else has your abilities or because no one will believe you, but you can’t do it.
“You need guidance and mentoring. You need to discuss your intentions with other people before you act. I cannot say what has happened to Jen. But, do you realize that what you described to me sounded as if you were overwriting her mind, as if she were a thumb drive holding music you didn’t like anymore? That sounds to me an awful lot like murdering who she was. After what you’ve done, will we ever be able to get that precious girl back? I don’t know, and I can tell from your expression that you don’t either. You need to think before you act.”
I always knew he carried a hidden club with him, I just never suspected that getting hit with it would hurt so badly.
Whole Foods
After Anderson whacked me, he put me in timeout. Well, not actually, but he told me to take off and think about what he had said. I followed his command, and called a taxi. I went home in a highly introspective and dour mood. Even Gregg’s text message that Jen was in fact speaking Illyrian only shallowly penetrated my ocean of introspection. After Anderson’s talk, my exposed narrow-minded and juvenile approach to all of this shamed me. I vowed to do better.
Of course, Spring was having a hard time with it, too. She struggled to follow the conversation with the doctor and my reaction to it. Her attitude seemed to be, Hey, if it worked, why do you feel guilty? If it didn’t work, well you can’t have everything.Shit happens.
I was discovering that dryads weren’t real big into morality, ethics, or self-reflection— at least my dryad wasn’t. What does one expect from a nine-month-old, though?
As I rode home, I listened to the taxi’s radio to drown out the thoughts echoing through my brain. I didn’t recognize the song, but it had a decent beat. I tapped along with it until the fading refrain penetrated my brain.
“Take me in tender woman, sighed the snake…”
I focused on the words to see if I’d heard it right, but the song was fading. The radio jock’s voice bellowed through the car.
“That was Belle Star singing ‘The Snake,’” said the announcer enthusiastically. “… All you pretty ladies take note, no matter how cute, you don’t want to take this snake in. Ha! Before that, we heard “Get On The Snake” by Soundgarden and “Tube Snake Boogie” by ZZ Top. Ha ha! We’ve been digging deep into our snake vault and taking you wherever the snake leads. Next up in our Newark snake-a-thon, we’ve got an oldie but a goody for you: Duran Duran, “The Union of the Snake.” But first, for those of you just tuning in, our snake bite count is up to three! The body of a jogger, dead from snakebite, was found this morning near Schoonover Park. WKFN is offering a reward of $5000 to anyone who brings us the head of our limbless stalker. So, all you snake charmers get your pipes, and we’ll have us a snake barbeque. Ha ha! We are halfway through our ‘Hour of Snake Power.’ Here’s your next slithery song…”
I groaned in disgust, but I couldn’t help but wonder what the DJ would say if I called in and told them the truth. For the rest of the trip, we were treated to obscure and cheesy snake songs. I’d never have thought there were so many.
I came through the front door, called out a hello to my parents, and headed up to my temporary room since mine was still uninhabitable while we fought with the insurance agency. I was mentally and emotionally exhausted. All I wanted was some quality staring-at-the-ceiling time, just me and my best girl. I could feel Spring rummaging about to understand that phrase. Her pleasure at finding it made me feel like a proud parent. I threw myself onto the guest bed? — my bed and got down to seriously doing nothing. Life was throwing shit at me faster than I could dodge, and I hadn’t yet had the time to figure out what was generating the shit or just what size fan was throwing it.
I stared at the ceiling for a while, then my eyes started to wander around the over-packed room. They landed on my aged hamster Squiffy’s cage. My gaze rested on it for a moment, until I realized that his cage was open. I swore and went to look inside. Sure enough, he was gone. I was somewhat amazed that he could work up enough energy to escape. Despite his nocturnal wheel walking, he was a chubby little ball of fur. He hadn’t escaped for a couple of years.
I started looking in all the standard places— under beds, in closets, behind dressers. When he didn’t show up in one of those places, I knew he had to be under my big dresser. It used to be his favorite hiding place. It was also the hardest spot to get him out of. The opening under the dresser was low and hard to reach through. I found it remarkable that my fat little hamster could even fit under it. The best way to flush him out was with a yardstick. I headed downstairs to get one from the garage.
My mom was in the kitchen fixing dinner. I said, “Hi”, gave her a kiss, and promised I’d tell her about my day after I found Squiffy. I headed out to the garage. I had taken two steps into it when the sight of my father stopped me cold.
He was standing at the far side of the garage and looking at me wide-eyed. His mouth was full of something that didn’t quite fit. Part of it was hanging out. That part was a small white furry hind leg and a small naked pink tail.
As I stood there, with my mind refusing to believe what it saw, he made a couple of gulping snaps of his mouth, and the feet and tail disappeared. I vaguely noted that behind him, on his bench, was an immense aquarium—full of mice. He chewed a couple of times, and when he swallowed the mouse, I could follow its progress down his esophagus. “Finn! Good to see you, Son! Where have you been all day?”
I closed my mouth to keep my chin from dropping down around my waist. “Dad, did you just eat a mouse whole?”
“Yes, and they’re delicious! Not as tasty as that nurse, but better than anything else I’ve tried in the last week.”
My mind struggled to work around this one. Suddenly, a nasty thought hit me. “Dad have you seen Squiffy? He’s not in his cage.”
He paused and looked a bit embarrassed—as if he was confessing to liking fruitcake. “Well, I’m sorry about that, Finn. I was just up in your room, and Squiffy was there, and he looked just so… edible. Before I knew it, I’d popped him in my mouth and eaten him whole. He tasted so good that it gave me an idea, so I went to the pet store and bought up their supply of feeding mice. You wouldn’t believe how amazing they taste, Finn! Like the best steak you’ve ever imagined. I don’t know why I didn’t try one before!”
“I know why you never thought about it before!” I yelled. “People don’t eat live rodents! Snakes do! Owls do! Not people! Only circus geeks eat live animals, and they’re freaks!”
He must have been in a good mood because that didn’t get the angry response I was expecting. “Calm down, son. I’ll get you a new hamster. I thought you would be happy for me. You don’t know what it is like to be hungry all the time, to have everything you eat taste like sawdust in your mouth. Besides, I feel great! You’re not going to have to pump me full of your whatever!”
My mom stuck her head out into the garage and said, “Goodness boys, what is all the yelling about?”
“Mom! Dad ate Squiffy! Now he’s eating live mice!”
That struck home. She yelped, “What?”
“Helen, it’s exciting. I found something I can eat that actually fills me up!”
“Mice and hamsters?”
Dad beamed at her through his Harry Potter spectacles and nodded vigorously. “Isn’t that great?”
“Oh, dear lord!” said my mom. “Jack, what if you get rabies or something?”
“Relax, Helen, these are from the pet store. They’re certified disease-free. They haven’t been rooting around in sewers or eating garbage or anything like that.”
My mom’s face paled. “Oh, dear lord!” She placed her hand over her mouth.
“I feel great, Helen. I won’t have to have Finn pump me full of whatever tw
ice a day to keep me alive!”
“Excuse me, Jack. I’ve got to go.” She ran out of the garage. The kitchen door slammed behind her. I assumed she was beating feet to the bathroom.
“She doesn’t seem very happy about this,” said my dad.
“No shit, Sherlock!” I replied.
That struck my dad harder than any of our conversation up to that point. He finally got angry and said, “Ian Finn Morgenstern, you will not use that language or tone of voice around me. I am your father and as long as you live under my roof, you will show me the proper respect.”
This was something I could deal with! I dropped my head and said meekly, “Sorry, Dad. It just slipped out.”
My apology mollified him. “Hey, I’ve still got a bunch of mice here. Do you want to try one? You never know, you might like it.”
“Uh, no thanks, Dad, I don’t want to spoil my dinner.” I fled after my mother.
Training
I’d gotten into the habit of lying to my parents about my time at Shady Oaks. They had enough to worry about without worrying more about me. I just told them I was spending a lot of time with Holly and talking to the other patients. Even though they could discover the truth by asking Anderson, I needed to minimize the chance that they would decide that it was too dangerous for me to be there. It was already hard enough to convince them to let me go anywhere on my own. They were still pretty freaked about Erik the homicidal Finn-hating snake. Can’t say I blamed them.
I’d had to wheedle and whine to get them to let me go train at Mark’s on my own, but in the end, they conceded defeat.
***
It was hard to believe it, but I had only been training with Uncle Mark a few weeks. I felt that already I didn’t totally suck. I was actually starting to get the hang of it, and Spring loved it. Mark and I practiced and sparred for an hour. By the end, my tired muscles and sore body bore testimony to the intensity of the workout, but I was not looking forward to dying as I had been when I first started.
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