Wild Thing

by L. J. Kendall

  That was what Keepie thought had attacked them.

  She wasn't sure what “fractally” meant, but it sounded cool. She'd look it up, later.

  There was also stuff about magic theory she didn't understand; and stuff about how apparently some people had begun to think Godsson was teaching her uncle things. Other countries even wanted to send “observers” during Godsson's battles. Though Prof Sanders and her uncle called them “episodes,” like it was some kind of trid drama, not a real heroic fight. And the other countries also wanted to send people to help “treat” him. But she gathered the Emperor of China didn't want anyone except Keepie or the Institute to look after Godsson, and was quite fierce about that.

  She also learned about the cyanide. It turned out they could flood Godsson's room with hydrogen cyanide – which was a poisonous gas – at any time they wanted, which would kill him in seconds.

  She couldn't believe Professor Sanders could be so horrid.

  She also learned what “fifty-fifty” meant: the Dragon Lord had warned them, before the attack, that killing Godsson was just as likely to set Her free in the world as to block Her from getting here. Which was the reason they hadn't tried that during the big battle. “Her” was a much better name than “fractal death thing,” in her opinion. But it didn't matter anymore, since She was dead. Killed by Godsson and her, together!

  They'd make a great team. She wondered if Godsson knew a flying spell? If he could cast it on her, then it'd really be like she was HyperGirl! If she could learn to shoot laser beams from her fingers.

  At least everyone involved pretty much agreed now it had all been real. They no longer said it was just Godsson hurting himself each year as “penance.” Which she'd look up the meaning of when she got back to her room. Unless it was one of those words that she had to ask Keepie about, that didn't have definitions on the net.

  But since they knew it wasn't Godsson just hurting himself, it made it harder to understand why they wouldn't set him free. It seemed like partly they weren't sure they'd really ended Her, and partly because they were simply scared of Godsson himself. Professor Sanders and her uncle, even though it was pretty clear they weren't friends anymore, both agreed he was insane and a danger to himself and others.

  Which just showed how much they knew. Sure, Godsson was a bit strange, but he wasn't crazy. Lots of people thought she was strange, too!

  Really, he was nice, and wouldn't hurt anyone unless they attacked him. He was always saying stuff like “Let he who is without the first sin cast a stone,” and “turn the other cheek.” She giggled and had to cover her mouth, when she remembered that little misunderstanding. Godsson had been so cross.

  It was funny you could find out the meaning of most words – like “mooning” – on the net, but not others – like “heaven,” or “sin,” or “angel.”

  What was a bit worrying, though, was that Uncle thought Godsson didn't like her anymore. And just because she was growing up and becoming a woman, and sexy, from what she could gather.

  She knew Godsson was a bit weird about not seeing too much skin, but she'd learned now what she had to cover up so she still looked good, but he wouldn't get all upset. So that'd be okay.

  Probably the best thing to do, though, would be to sit down with Godsson and have a “heart to heart” talk to make him understand. Maybe they could even cuddle? He was kinda cute. And if she did it straight after she'd rescued him….

  She smiled as she pictured it, hugging herself and gnawing at her bottom lip.

  The still-arguing voices snapped her back to the subject. She winced as she considered what Keepie would say after she'd rescued Godsson. But once he saw Godsson wasn't hurting anybody, he'd have to admit she'd been right. Again. Like she'd been about practically everything.

  The second biggest thing she'd learned was that no one knew exactly what kind of magician Melisande had been – shaman or mage – but that some people called her an Infection Shaman. Which sounded pretty awful.

  But the biggest and the scariest thing she'd learned was that a lot of people thought Melisande's magic might have got inside her, and infected her.

  “She” had kind of gotten inside, too, it was true; but Godsson had burned Her all out. She shuddered just at the memory of that… agony. She wasn't sure she'd be brave enough to ask him to do that, ever again, not now she knew what it felt like. Luckily though, because they'd killed Her, that wouldn't be necessary. She was pretty sure she wasn't infected. Besides, even when She'd gotten inside, it had been Her magic, anyway, not Her herself, with that slippery voice. Maybe that was what She'd meant all those times when she'd asked if she could have a ride?

  She considered herself, then, seriously. Had she changed? Was she infected?

  She sure didn't feel any different. She hadn't had any sneaky whispers in her head. She hadn't even had any strange thoughts that pretended to be hers, but weren't. Especially, she didn't feel mean or want to hurt things or mess things up.

  But she'd keep alert just in case, she decided.

  She just had two questions left, after all that listening. What to call their super team, her and Faith and Godsson? And how to actually rescue Godsson. Fortunately, she'd watched carefully when Professor Sanders had entered the code. Though there was all sorts of extra security, now.

  In the end, she decided Mr Shanahan could help.

  She'd visited him after dinner, even though she hadn't worked out the exact details. To start with, she just pretended to be a bit sad that all their visitors had gone and that everything was all quiet and boring now. He'd let her in, and of course they'd started talking about this year's battle.

  Then she'd wondered what she'd looked like during the attack, and when he said 'Amazing', at first she'd just smiled, then asked how he knew, then discovered that his security cameras had recorded the whole thing!

  Of course, she'd begged him to show her, not that it took much convincing. Each year, as she got older and wiser, she'd noticed Mr S got easier to convince.

  But this time, with Keepie's new information about nipples and men and stuff, she wondered if that was part of it, too. Which had led to her Grand Idea.

  So to start with, she'd acted all excited, and jumped on his lap to watch.

  At first, he'd tried to say she should get off, but she distracted him simply by ignoring him and pointing to interesting-looking thumbnails on his screen and asking him to play “that one,” then another, and another. And kind of pointing her nipples at him while she did it.

  For a while, though, she'd gotten distracted by the video itself. It was weird looking at herself; especially when the attack started. Chills prickled down her spine when she heard herself shouting out “Target acquired!” Though she hadn't thought her voice was that squeaky in real life.

  She moved well though, she decided, studying herself. It even looked a bit like a movie, except that after she “attacked” people – it kind of looked like she was attacking them, except she knew she'd been slicing at pieces of Her – instead of falling down, her “victims” sort of shook themselves and woke up.

  Watching it was fun. But at last she remembered her Idea, and began making sure to “accidentally” bump her breasts into his chest as she exclaimed and wriggled about in his lap. Every now and then she'd turn to look at him before letting herself get absorbed again by the action on screen, squealing about how exciting it all was.

  Seeing the hunger in his eyes, and feeling the hardness pressing up under her thighs, felt good: made her feel powerful. And it was then that she knew her plan to find out what she needed to know was going to work. She had become the one in charge, not Mr S. It was like she had a superpower that could bend men to her will.

  Just like She had said she could show her how to do. For a little while, she even worried that maybe She was still inside, and tricking her. But there was nothing sneaky or tricky about it. It was more like their bodies were both real hungry.

  It was a very short distance from there, to
wondering what Mr S would be like with his clothes off, with him inside her. She'd kissed him, first. He tried to pull away, to say they shouldn't. But when she unzipped her suit and pulled his large hand onto her breast, he didn't stop. She snaked her other hand under her, between his thighs, and worked at his zipper. After that, it was all she could do to wrap her legs around his waist as he stood up and carried them both deeper than she'd ever been in his thickly-walled little house; through the small kitchen and down the narrow hallway past his toilet, and finally into his bedroom. And onto his bed.

  She hadn't gone easy on him. He'd wanted to stop after the first time, but by then she'd worked out her plan, and used some of the new tricks and skills he'd just taught her, to make him go a second time. For the third time, she'd gotten on top, riding him like she was a cowgirl, and he really seemed to enjoy that, especially when she leaned forward so he could reach her breasts.

  Best of all, though, had been snuggling up together, afterward.

  Mr S had gotten real worried, though, saying they shouldn't have, and that they mustn't do it again. She'd just smiled, and soothed him, and said it was okay; that sure, they wouldn't do it again. Not unless he wanted to!

  It was weird: both Mr S and Keepie saying they shouldn't do it again. She wondered if all men were like that?

  And then, just like men were supposed to, a little while later he fell asleep. She wiped herself clean, zipped herself back into her clothes, and crept back to his computer. The password for his screen-unlocking was “ck9 space space Faith apostrophe 48”: two times, he hadn't been careful enough while she'd been with him, and she'd watched from the corner of her eye.

  She started going through his system, quickly gaining confidence. She'd expected it to be much harder to operate than it looked. But it really was just a lot of touching and gesturing, like she'd seen him do heaps of times. There were lots more security cameras than she'd seen before, including ones that were heat or motion triggered.

  As she checked it out more and more, though, the more impossible it looked to sneak past all of the security precautions to get to Godsson. She found the cameras for Godsson, and then found the search function, and checked to see what things were keeping him locked in. She discovered there were lots of warnings and alerts that would go off, for all different sorts of reasons, even if the access code was entered.

  But up at the very top level of the whole system, there was just a slider that could be used to take everything down for “preventative maintenance or system reload.” She slid it down, and it asked for a reason, so she typed in “preventative maintenance.” Then it asked how long for, so she clicked on “one hour,” and an “Are you sure?” box popped up, waiting for her to click on it.

  She hadn't actually meant to rescue Godsson tonight. But she probably wouldn't ever get a better chance.

  She reached for the button, then hesitated.

  What about Keepie?

  Her fingertip hovered, just over the red “Yes” button.

  Keepie wouldn't want to come. He thought Godsson was mad, and would hurt people. She was sure he wouldn't even give Godsson a chance to prove he wouldn't.

  Her finger hovered.

  But she couldn't just run away. Keepie would feel awful. He'd feel like she'd abandoned him. Like everyone had always abandoned her.

  Until Keepie.

  Keepie had never abandoned her.

  In front of her, the screen and her fingertip suddenly swam underwater. She squeezed her eyes shut, and shook it away. Stop it! You're not a baby. You're practically eighteen. Her fingertip slid to the right, over the green “No” button.

  Her hand felt heavy, dragging down. Somehow, she felt that resting it, sitting back, would be cheating.

  Decide.

  She couldn't abandon Keepie.

  But she didn't have to stay away. She and Faith and Godsson could run away temporarily. They'd do lots of rescues and save people and stuff, to prove to Keepie that Godsson was good. Then she'd sneak them all back in one night, and surprise him.

  She imagined his shock, and how it would turn to delight. He'd smile, and race forward, and hug her till she was afraid he'd squash her chest! And then they'd all escape, together!

  Through a sea of swimming pixels, her finger swung back to the left, back to the red blob, and she touched the screen.

  All the indicator icons went from green to red.

  Even with the system turned off, she still needed to enter the right codes at each door. Tiptoeing down the stairs, she could still hardly believe that all kinds of alarms wouldn't start blaring out, any moment. She knew it was silly to tiptoe, but she couldn't help doing it anyway.

  Down the corridor from the stairs, glaring up at the new security camera, with its red light off… oh. If anyone woke up, and noticed the lights were off, they'd realise what was happening.

  Well, we'd just better be gone before then.

  The intercom light on Godsson's door showed it was off, and she hadn't figured out how to turn it on. The day of the attack, it had just happened by itself. Probably there was a remote control.

  She rapped on the window, and Godsson spun around. When he saw her, he raised one eyebrow, then made his greeting gesture, which she knew now was a spell.

  'Sara. This is unexpected. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?'

  She touched her fingertips to the glass, which was as thick as the door itself, and felt the vibrations as he spoke.

  'Uncle says you don't like me anymore. That you think She infected me.'

  He looked at her, like he was sizing her up. 'And what do you think, yourself?'

  'I think it'd be pretty stupid to let you out if I was.'

  And punched in the code.

  Chapter 55

  Godsson looked surprised, then wary, but at least he didn't instantly englobe himself in his golden protective circle against her. That had to be a good sign.

  'Come on, we have to be quick. I turned off all the security.'

  He stepped to the doorway of his room, looking at her strangely, then stared up at the security camera with its light not glowing red, before dropping his eyes back to her. 'So, no one can see what we do down here?'

  'That's right.'

  His gaze went distant, like he was looking somewhere else. Had his hands just twitched? Had he just done another spell?

  'What's the matter? Can't you get past the Dragon's Barrier spell on your room?'

  Godsson shook his head, still not looking at her. 'No. The Ward blocks only magic.' He frowned. 'How much of the security did you turn off?'

  'Well, all of it. Everything.'

  'Really? You claim you have taken down the barrier wall?'

  'Uh, I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean the big circle around the buildings? I don't think so.'

  Godsson shook his head, while his eyes continued scanning some distant vision.

  'Look, come on! I turned off all the electronic security. If there's magic barriers, I don't know what to do about them. But Uncle and I go into New Francisco sometimes, and I've never seen him do any magic to go out. Or in, either. And I snuck out once, too, on my own, and there was no magic barrier.'

  His eyes came back to her, and he seemed to notice her clothes. He actually winced – winced! – but didn't say anything. He was so weird about clothing.

  He finally stepped out of his cell, then took her hand. Turning it over, he examined it, then stared deep into her eyes for a long time, like he was looking right into her. Then his eyes went weird, like she'd seen her uncle and those shamans do, but Godsson's gaze kind of prickled, then burned, deep inside her.

  She smacked his chest. 'Stop that. It kind of hurts. Plus we don't have much time. Faith is coming too.'

  That caught his attention.

  'It'll just be the three of us. We can team up and travel the country fighting evil. I decided we can be called, uh, “The Godsson Squadron”.' She looked up at him, suddenly feeling shy. 'Do you like it?'

 
He just blinked at her, like she'd confused him somehow.

  'Come on! Don't stand there like a dummy! I'm not sure how long till Mr Shanahan wakes up.'

  He let himself be led, staring around almost in wonder at the new room, and the corridor leading to the stairs. 'Did you knock him out?'

  She flushed. Something told her he wouldn't approve of her seducing Mr S to trick him. 'Uh, kinda, yeah. Now come on!'

  The rescue, after that, went surprisingly easily. With all the security turned off, they just walked up the stairs from the basement and out, using the door codes. It was actually kind of helpful how they'd tied all the security together into one big system, that Mr Shanahan – or someone using his computer – could just turn off.

  Faith was waiting, just like she'd told her to, and trotted forward as they came down the stairs. Godsson wasn't paying any attention at all, though. Instead, he was just spreading his arms wide and drawing in great deep breaths; staring up into the starry bright sky, slowly turning around like he could suck it all in.

  It was a lovely night for an escape: warm with hardly any wind.

  'Godsson, this is Faith. Faith, this is, um, should I say Mr Godsson, or just Godsson?'

  Godsson looked around, like he couldn't see her properly, and then waved his hand gently and a small globe of soft light appeared. Then he turned his head slightly from side to side, his eyes going more sideways, and then he started looking worried and his eyes fixed fiercely on hers. His mouth opened.

  She pointed down, quickly. 'Uh, that's Faith, Godsson.'

  His eyes dropped, and Faith gave a small growl as their eyes met.

  'Stop it, Faith.' She dropped to her haunches to give her a quick hug, and a talking-to. 'He's a friend. You can trust Godsson.'

  Faith still watched Godsson, her tail quite still.

  'Faith is a dog?'

  Leeth bristled, and glared up at him. 'Yeah, a cyberdog. And she's real brave, and smart, too. She subdued five soldiers on the day that She attacked. All by herself.'