“If this is anything like Agartha, and that’s still a big if, they’ll be in their cabin… there.” Eddy pointed, mostly for Santi and Matt’s sake.
Marissa pushed a lock of hair back behind her ear, barely visible in the darkness. “I hardly remember that time at all. We were always either working, eating, or resting.” Her shadowy form turned toward him. “Do we have to cover Andy and Shandra’s eyes? It feels so… invasive.”
“Yes. They can’t be allowed to see who we are.”
They’d brought the balloon down on the back side of the schoolhouse vineyard to try to avoid detection. They’d waited for nighttime and the cover of darkness.
“I’ve been giving it some thought.” Santi’s voice floated out of the darkness. “I think I know how to disable their loops without cutting them out.”
“How?” Eddy rubbed the bandage on the side of his head. He was certain to have a scar there. “That would be nice.”
“Remember how I burned mine out?”
Eddy nodded. “Electrical shock from the lightning strike, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. If we can find something here that can deliver an electric shock…. Marissa?”
She shook her head. “Sorry, nothing like that here. But maybe… never mind.”
“What?” Something nonintrusive would be ideal.
“I might be able to burn it out myself.”
Eddy shook his head. “Absolutely not. It’s too dangerous. If you lost control….” He shuddered. “We might lose you, or you might lose the baby. Or both.”
Matt seconded him.
“What if I could jam the signal?” Marissa whispered.
“Jam it? How?” Eddy was getting impatient. They needed to act before something tripped up their plans. But if there was a way to free Andy and Shandra that was less painful and debilitating than cutting out their loops….
“I can find the loop signal from Micavery and block it from reaching the loop, I think.”
“Without reaching in?”
She nodded. “Then Andy and Shandra can disable their own loops, internally.”
Eddy scratched his chin. “I don’t see why not. We can try it. So, are we ready?”
“I am.”
“Matt? Santi?”
“Let’s go.” Santi squeezed his hand.
“Remember, no talking. We get in, grab them, cover their eyes, and separate them. Then Marissa tries her thing.”
Everyone agreed.
The little band left their hiding place in the gondola and descended into the darkness without another word.
MARISSA CREPT up to the porch of the cabin that Andy and Shandra shared. The night ivy illuminated the porch with its silver glow, and a cool breeze caressed her skin as she climbed the steps.
She felt like an interloper, intruding on her mentors like this. Never mind that they were probably lost to whatever was holding most of the people on Forever hostage. This had been her home once. Now she was sneaking in like a thief in the night.
It was necessary, but she hated it.
One of the floorboards on the porch creaked.
She lifted her foot and indicated the offending board to Matt, who was just behind her.
Eddy opened the door and gestured for her to enter.
She passed through the living area, pausing for just a second to look around. Nothing had changed. Delancy’s chair sat next to the writing desk, and dishes were stacked neatly on the kitchen counter.
She reached the door to the bedroom. That space had always been by invitation only, a little bit of privacy for the two women who had been like mothers to her.
With just a little hesitation, she pushed inside.
There was only one woman lying on the bed. Shandra. She lay perfectly still, her arms at her sides.
Marissa looked around for Andy, peering quietly into the bathroom. Nothing.
Where is she? Eddy mouthed to her.
I don’t know. She gestured at Shandra with a shrug.
Eddy nodded.
Santi readied himself on one side, and Matt on the other.
Go!
Matt and Santi sat on the bed, pinning Shandra’s arms, while Eddy lay the blindfold over her eyes and tied it behind her head.
Shandra struggled, getting in a good kick on Santi’s side, but they had her outnumbered and soon they had her subdued.
Marissa slipped in and laid her hands on either side of Shandra’s head.
“Who are you?” Shandra’s voice was flat. Weird.
Marissa ignored it. She reached, feeling for the place where Shandra’s loop was connected to the network.
“You’re a clever one. Ones. How many of you are there?” The voice was deeper than Shandra’s, and it sounded bizarre as it tried to match its own usual timbre with her vocal cords.
There. Marissa visualized it, a green thread running into the side of Shandra’s head.
“Won’t talk to me, huh? Let’s see what you do if I add a little pain. Like this.”
Shandra’s body twisted and contorted, and she let out a scream.
“Hold her down!” Marissa shouted. She was so close.
Shandra’s body relaxed. “Ah, yes, I know that voice. Marissa. So nice to—”
Marissa slammed a mental block between Shandra and the signal. “Got it.”
Eddy shot her a look. Are you sure?
Marissa nodded. She pulled off the blindfold, maintaining the block. “Shandra, can you hear me?”
Shandra’s eyes opened, and she looked around wildly and started to struggle.
She took her mentor’s face in her hands again and forced Shandra to look her in the eyes. “Shandra, it’s me, Marissa!”
Shandra saw her.
“It’s okay. It’s Marissa. Do you understand?”
Shandra nodded.
“You’re going to be okay, but I need you to—”
Something crashed behind her, and Santi fell away from the bed.
“It’s Andy! I’ll take care of her. Stay with Shandra—get her free.” Eddy left her side.
Marissa concentrated on maintaining the block, ignoring the sounds of fighting. “Shandra, I need you to turn off your loop. All the way.” She squeezed Shandra’s hand. “Something has been controlling you, and it’s coming through your loop. Can you do that?”
Shandra stared at her wild-eyed, but she nodded. “I can.” She closed her eyes, and in a moment she reopened them. “It’s done.”
Something else crashed behind them, and Marissa let go of the block. “You still okay?”
Shandra nodded. “Andy—”
“—is our other problem at the moment.” She turned to find Andy being held by Matt and Eddy.
Santi was rubbing his head, and shards from a vase littered the floor.
Andy grinned at her, a gesture that distorted her features. “I see my old friends have planned a bit of a reunion for me. Didn’t expect to see me again, did you?”
“Davian.”
“Or at least a really good copy.” His grin subsided. “You’re causing me a bit of trouble, when I’d rather be working to bring everyone together.”
“Turning everyone into zombies, more like.” Marissa reached for Andy’s face.
“Did you know I could reach inside this one and literally stop her heart?” He laughed, and she hesitated. “I’ll see you all soon.”
Andy’s eyes closed, and then she started to shake.
“Damn.” Marissa placed her hands on Andy’s face and cut Davian’s connection. It was much easier this time, now that she knew what she was doing.
Andy’s eyes opened, but they were filled with fear. She was clutching her chest. “Help… me….”
“Quickly, lay her down!” Eddy pulled the blanket off the bed and laid it on the floor. “She needs CPR.” He knelt beside her and started to administer it, five compressions on her chest, one breath.
Marissa kept Davian blocked as she watched with fearful fascination.
Five compressions
, one breath. Five compressions, one breath.
After thirty seconds—or was it an eternity?—Andy’s eyes flickered open, and she took a deep ragged breath.
“She’s alive!” Marissa knelt over Andy’s prone form. “Andy, you have to shut off your loop.” She took Andy’s hand and looked into her eyes. “Can you do that?”
“What?”
“Shut off your loop!”
She nodded. “It’s done.”
Marissa let go of the block on Davian and the world mind and collapsed on Andy, wrapping her arms around her and sobbing.
She had almost lost the woman who would be the grandmother—one of them—to her unborn child.
Andy put her hand on Marissa’s head. “It’s okay, Rissa. I’m still here.”
Marissa closed her eyes and lay still, feeling safe for the moment.
Feeling home.
Chapter Four: Two Homes
JAYSON CREPT back to the kitchen window. He peered inside, but Aaron was nowhere to be seen.
A crack brought him around to find his brother standing there barefoot in the space between the two prefab houses, staring at him strangely. “Hello, Gunner.” His voice was stretched, as if someone or something else was using it and didn’t quite have the hang of it yet.
“Master.” The word slipped from his lips before he realized what he was saying.
Aaron/Davian nodded. “Good. You remember.” He reached his hand out, a little jerkily, and put it on Jayson’s head. Almost gently, he pushed Jayson down to his knees.
Jayson sighed. It felt so natural. He’d submitted to this man’s will for so many years, subsuming himself to Davian’s commands, becoming his servant, his vassal.
Never mind that the man was dead and gone. Or should have been.
“I’m happy to see you, Gunner. I have plans for you. Now that I’ve taken over the other Immortals, I have this whole word at my feet.”
“The other…?”
Aaron/Davian grinned. “Yes. I made a mistake last time, trying to imprison them. When I finally found my way out of the little trap you set for me, I bided my time. This time, there’s no one left in the world mind to fight back.” The grin became a twisted parody of a smile, showing too many teeth. “And I owe it all to you.”
Jayson’s face burned with shame. His Master was right. Jayson was the one who had opened the door for Davian, given him the keys to the kingdom.
Jayson flashed back to that lost weekend in Seattle, when he’d done things, and had things done to him, that had forever altered his soul. He was meant to serve. He could feel it in his bones. Meant to be at this man’s feet. The intervening time had just been a colorful dream.
“Uncle Jayson? Dad?”
Jayson’s head snapped up. Davian’s spell was broken as quickly as it had been cast.
I have children now. A nephew. Family. He wasn’t the man he’d been in his twenties. He was almost sixty now. He had come through the cauldron a changed man. A stronger man. He didn’t need to submit to this monster any more. “Sean, stay back,” he growled.
HE LOOKED up at Aaron/Davian and saw him for what he was. Not an all-powerful Master, Preacher, but a scared, pathetic husk of a man, always hounded by his demons, trying desperately to build a wall between himself and their ripping, grasping claws.
Aaron’s body was just his puppet.
He stood, his eyes locked on Aaron/Davian’s. Fear filled those eyes.
“Don’t you dare disobey me—”
Jayson’s hand shot out to touch Aaron’s cheek. He reached into his brother’s head, and quick as a snake he struck, severing the link Davian had to Aaron through his loop.
Aaron collapsed in a heap.
“Watch over him!” he called to Sean as he ran toward the bedroom window. He’d seen the mad anger that had crossed Aaron’s face as Davian had been thwarted. Keera was in mortal danger.
Jayson pulled himself up through the window frame, thanking the stars there was no glass on these windows, and dropped into the bedroom. He looked around wildly.
Keera was gone.
The kitchen. He knew how Davian’s mind worked. His former Master would try to punish Jayson for his intransigence, take away something he cared for.
Jayson dashed into the front room, but he was too late. Keera had grabbed a knife, and she held it against her own neck. “I’ll do it. I’ll kill her.” Davian’s command over her vocal cords was better. He was learning quickly.
Jayson estimated the distance between them. He was too far to reach her in time. “Don’t do it. What do you want?”
“That’s more like it.” She grinned one of those unearthly grins of the possessed, and her hand relaxed on the knife. “I want you to—”
Then she yelped and tumbled to the ground, the knife skittering across the floor to stop at his feet. What the hell?
Sean stood there outside the window, a branch in hand. “I didn’t hit her too hard, did I?”
Jayson knelt next to Keera, skipping his hand across her temple and cutting the loop link to the world mind. “I don’t think so. She’s breathing.”
“What the hell was that?”
“I’ll tell you later, after we bring your father inside—”
A deep rumbling shook the house, knocking dishes out of the cabinet and onto the ground.
Roots exploded through the floorboards, questing about for him, for Sean, for anything they could destroy. Davian wasn’t so easily denied.
Jayson reached inside and pushed, sending his spark outward, creating an expanding null space like the one he’d made in Agartha. As it passed, the writhing roots within its influence stilled. Soon the whole complex was silent.
Keera moaned in his arms.
“It’s okay now.” He kissed her forehead and then got up to survey the damage. The house had held together, barely, but it would be safer if they were all outside in the courtyard.
So Davian was back. Round one to me.
It wouldn’t be the last.
NIGHT HAD fallen. Marissa sat on the porch of the schoolhouse, staring out at the dark world beyond.
Here and there, patches of silver light marked homesteads where night ivy and other night-shining plants gave off their reassuring glow. The world was peaceful and quiet. She could almost imagine there was nothing wrong.
How many times had she sat on this same porch at night with Delancy and Danny, staring out at this same view? Wondering what was going on in the wider world?
She rested a hand on her belly. Her son sent her a spark of recognition.
She smiled, then frowned. What kind of world would he grow up in? Would it be any less terrible than the one she’d been born to in Agartha?
Behind her, she could hear the others preparing a quick dinner in the schoolhouse kitchen. They needed to strategize, but as Andy had pointed out, they had to eat too.
The building had always served as both a classroom and a dining hall for the Liminal kids and their teachers. Another bit of the past to relive.
She was about to get up and go inside to help when Andy came out. “Hey there.” She sat down next to Marissa on the steps. Andy put an arm around her and pulled her close. “How are you doing?”
Marissa pulled her hair back behind her ears. “I’m okay. I was just remembering all the time we spent here with the other kids, looking out there.” She sighed. “Do you think we’re safe?”
Andy shrugged. “For the moment, yes? As safe as anywhere. There’s no easy way to get here on foot, and we’re far enough away from Micavery and Darlith to make other methods of transportation inconvenient. But we can’t stay here long.” She crossed her arms and leaned forward, looking out into the darkness. “Hard to believe Jayson and Sean were just here.”
“I hope they’re okay.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
Andy glanced down at her stomach. “So—you’re expecting?”
Marissa nodded. “In about six and a half months.”
“That�
�s amazing!” Andy hugged her. “Your father will be so proud.”
“I hope so. I can’t reach him. I’m worried.” That was an understatement. What was the word for when the world was ending?
Andy rubbed Marissa’s back. “He’ll be fine. He’s strong. He had to be to last through all those years inside the storm.”
Marissa nodded, looking down at her feet. “I hope so.”
“Come on inside. We’ll figure all of this out after we have some food in us.” Andy helped her up. “I’m really proud of you, Marissa.”
Marissa blushed. “I just do my best. It’s not much.”
“That’s all any of us can do.”
THEY SAT down to a full meal, courtesy of the schoolhouse stores. Andy looked around the table and smiled. However terrible the circumstances, it was good to have them all here.
It was all vegetarian—a bean salad, mashed squash, grilled mushrooms as big as Andy’s fist, and a red berry pie for dessert.
They sat inside the walls of the schoolhouse, and while they ate they talked about everything except their current situation.
Andy and Shandra filled Marissa in on changes to the schoolhouse since she’d been there last, including some new plantings and the latest wine grape harvest. They had high hopes for a white wine they were debuting the following year.
Marissa told them about the barn she and Matt were building and their plans for the nursery when the baby came.
Santi and Eddy talked about the latest news from Micavery, which had become a bustling metropolis bursting at the seams. “We’ve got to get some of these people moved out to the Eire… once we figure out what’s happening, that is.”
Andy nodded. “Do we think it’s Davian, then?”
“Yes. He outed himself when he used you. It’s Agartha all over again.”
Shandra frowned. “But Agartha was controlled by Jayson’s abilities.” Marissa shuddered. “Do we think Davian has those powers now? How did he even return?”
Andy set down her fork and stared out the window. After all these years…. She got up and started to pace around the room. “Could one of the Liminal kids be helping him?”
The Rising Tide Page 29