Hood

by Laurence Dahners

  As she passed the door to their public room, she glanced into it. To her surprise, Tarc wasn’t on his mattress. Instead, she realized, he was standing by the door to the outside as if he were about to leave. Her night vision only showed him as a glowing form, but she could tell his eyes were turned toward her.

  As if he knew where she was.

  He must’ve heard me, she thought, since no one else seemed to be able to see in the dark the way she could. She whispered, “Tarc?”

  He nodded.

  “What’re you doing up?” she asked before she realized it’d give away the fact she could see in the dark. Then she realized that the fact she could tell he’d nodded had given it away already. I hope he doesn’t decide I’m some kind of witch.

  In a complete non sequitur, he whispered back, “Did you know we’re distant cousins?”

  “What?!” she asked. How does he know? How closely are we related?

  “We’re distant cousins,” he said quietly.

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Your mom told me. Your great-great-grandmother was a Hyllis from up north, probably from the town my dad’s family came from.”

  “I don’t think Hyllis’s a rare enough name that it means for sure we’re related.”

  “No, but that and the fact you can get around in the dark makes it pretty sure.”

  “What? This is my own house. Of course I can find my way in the dark.” Trying to distract him from this point, she asked, “What’re you doing up?”

  She could hear the grin in his voice when he asked, “Are you saying you know your way around your house so well that, even in the dark, you can tell I’m not on my mattress?”

  “Uh…”

  “It’s okay. I can get around in the dark too,” he whispered, walking her way. “It looks like you were going to the kitchen. Shall I join you?”

  Despite the fact that his joining her was what she’d been desperately hoping a few minutes ago, now she felt a panicked dismay. “Um…”

  He walked through the opening from the public room and turned toward the kitchen. Now she heard the smile in his voice as he said, “You’re quite the conversationalist.”

  Irritated, but not knowing what else to do, she trailed behind him. Proving he could see in the dark, he walked unerringly to the table and pulled out a chair, gesturing to it in a gentlemanly fashion. Biting her lip, she sat down. I’ve got to say something! she thought. She settled on, “Have you always been able to see in the dark?”

  He sat in one of the other chairs and shook his head. “Just since puberty. I assume it’s the same for you?”

  Gloria nodded, wondering what to say next.

  He said, “In my family we call this sense a ghirit. What do you call it?”

  Timidly, she said, “I think I’m the only one in my family. My little brother didn’t live long enough to reach puberty.”

  “You’ve kept it a secret?”

  She nodded.

  “You’ll keep my ability a secret too?”

  “Uh-huh,” she said, thinking she still wasn’t being much of a conversationalist.

  “If I tell you more about it, can you keep all this stuff secret?”

  “Yes.” She hesitated, “You called it a ‘sense.’ You think it’s different than sight?”

  “I’m pretty sure you can do it with your eyes shut, can’t you?”

  Startled, Gloria closed her eyes and realized to her bewilderment she could still “sense” her surroundings—just as well as she’d been able to with them open. The words, “Oh my God,” burst out of her. She whispered. “Am I a witch?”

  She heard Tarc snort softly. “A lot of people would say so. In my family we call it a ‘talent.’ We think witches are people with talents who use them for evil purposes. If you use your talents to help other people,” he shrugged, “then you’re not a witch.”

  “Oh,” she said thoughtfully.

  “Were you going to have a cup of water or something?”

  “Um, no. I couldn’t sleep so…” she trailed off when she realized she hadn’t had any other plan beyond perhaps getting to talk to Tarc.

  “I’m glad.”

  “Glad of what?”

  “Glad you got up and wandered out here. Glad you have talent… Glad I got to meet you… Glad your dad’s okay…”

  Gloria was glad it was dark as she wiped away the tears she formed thinking about what he’d said. Then she realized that, since he could see in the dark, he’d know she was wiping at her eyes. Hoarsely, she said, “I’m glad of all those things too.” When the silence stretched a moment, she said, “Though, this talent’s not all that useful. It’s not that often that I need to see in the dark.”

  “Hmm,” he murmured, as if he thought she was missing something.

  “What? Do you spend a lot of time sneaking around in the dark?”

  “No, but when we’re on the road back to Clancy Vail it’ll sure be nice to be able to tell if someone’s sneaking up on us.”

  “Oh,” she said thoughtfully. “So… we’ll take turns as lookouts?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “We call them ‘watches.’”

  “And then what? Do I wake you up and you throw a knife?”

  “Or, you throw a knife.”

  She snorted, “I’m not accurate enough.”

  “Well, if that’s the case, in the dark you can walk closer. When you’re just a couple of meters from him, then throw it. You can hardly miss at that distance.”

  “What if there’s moonlight and they can see me coming?”

  He shrugged, then asked what seemed like a completely unrelated question. “Can you sense your parents back in their room?”

  “Of course n…” she broke off as she realized she’d unintentionally expanded her sense—her “ghirit”—back that way. She actually could sense them.

  Right through the walls.

  After an uncomfortable pause, she said wonderingly, “I… guess I can.”

  “And, you’ve realized you did it without turning your head?”

  She asked with incredulity, “Have I always been able to see behind myself in the dark?”

  “I imagine so. It seems like most people with talents just don’t seem to realize what they can do with them until it’s pointed out to them. Your mother tells me you’re a math genius. But you probably didn’t realize you could do amazing things with numbers until those kinds of problems were put before you, right?”

  “This is… hard to believe.”

  Tarc nodded, “It strikes most people that way.”

  “Wait! Is that how you took out so many of Krait’s men? In the dark?”

  He shrugged, “It was a big help.”

  “But not all of it,” she said thoughtfully. “Are there… other things this talent lets us do?”

  “Well,” he said, sounding amused. “Have you realized yet that if it works in the dark, it probably works in the daytime too?”

  “Really?” Gloria asked, surprised again. “But that’s probably not much help when you can use your eyes instead, right?”

  “Um, my eyes can’t see behind me,” he said, sounding like he wanted to laugh but was working hard to control it. “If yours can, they’re really special.”

  “Oh,” she said, thinking, Of course that’s a big deal!

  “It makes it hard for someone to sneak up behind you.”

  Gloria nodded thoughtfully, wondering what kind of life Tarc led if he needed to worry so much about people sneaking up on him. Then she realized that he’d essentially fought a war against Krait’s men. He really needed to be able to see behind him doing that.

  “Have you considered that even during the day, you wouldn’t have been able to see through the walls into your parents’ bedroom?”

  Holy shit! How could I not realize how important that would be?! She gave a quick shake of her head as if it might clear her apparently muddy thoughts. “Um, how could I possibly not know I could do these things?!”


  Tarc shrugged, “I don’t know. It’s often really hard to believe people with talents don’t notice what they can do with them. Again, I think it’s like your talent for math. You didn’t notice it, or know you had it. Not until you were confronted with actual math problems.”

  Gloria thought math seemed completely different. After a moment she asked, “What else,” she giggled, “can I do that I’ve never noticed?”

  “What time is it?”

  “I don’t know.” Anxiously, “Do you have to get up early? Am I keeping you up?”

  “Sorry, I was trying to point out that you should know approximately what time it is, even during the night.”

  Gloria searched inside herself for some strange sense that was going to tell her what time it was. Finally, she said, “I don’t seem to have that talent.”

  “Where’s the sun?”

  “Oh, my, God!” Gloria said, pointing at it, down through the floor to the west. “It must be about 9 o’clock, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s about what I’d say.” He paused for a moment, giving her time to digest it, then he said, “What your ghirit senses is differences in heat. The sun’s really hot. People are warm. Your neighbors have a fire in the stove, so it’s easy to sense even though it’s much farther away than your parents. Cold things like the walls in your house are harder to detect. How far away can you detect your neighbors?”

  Gloria cast her ghirit out as far as she could. She pointed, “I sense people three streets away that direction.”

  “Wow… That’s… impressive. I’d say you’re sensing them well over a hundred meters away. If you work at it you should be able to increase the distance.”

  “Work at it?”

  “Spend some time every day trying to sense people farther and farther away. People can usually improve their abilities by using them a lot. They often double their range. If you try, you might be able to see as far as the strongest talent I know of.”

  “Wow,” Gloria said, trying to come to grips with all she’d learned. After a moment she started worrying she wasn’t being a good host. “Um, would you like something to drink? Beer? Or we probably have some boiled water?”

  “No, I should probably go.”

  “That’s right. When I came by you were at the door. Were you about to go out somewhere?”

  He nodded.

  “Where?” Then with a little dismay. “A tavern?”

  “I came here from Clancy Vail because both the Watsons, the people that bought the tavern from us, and Harrison’s bank owe us money. We asked Norton, the caravan master, to get some of our money on his last trip through here, but they both said they couldn’t pay.” He shrugged bleakly, “Which might be true. Some people think Farley kept most of the money recovered from Krait. Or, maybe Watson and Harrison’s just wouldn’t pay. I need to find out what’s true.”

  “Oh…” Gloria said thoughtfully. “How’re you going to figure that out?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, sounding frustrated. “I’m thinking with the Watsons I can just check around to see whether they have enough money laid by that I think they should be paying us. With the bank, I’m wondering if I can find their books or some other kind of records. Something that’ll make it clear whether they have enough money to pay us, and if so how much they should be paying.” He snorted, “Your mother pointed out that what I really need is a mind reader. Unfortunately, I failed to bring one with me.”

  With a little laugh, Gloria palmed her forehead in false dismay. She said, “Dang! I used my last one yesterday.”

  He laughed too. “It’ll be just my luck that the whole town’ll be sold out of them.”

  More soberly, she said, “I suppose you could threaten them. You know, with your knives.”

  “I think,” he said slowly, “when you threaten or torture someone, they tell you what they think you want to hear, not the truth.”

  She thought about it for a moment, then said, “You’re probably right.”

  He gusted a sigh, “Yeah.” Getting up, he said, “Well, I’d better be on my way.”

  “Where’re you going?”

  “Drop by their places of business and poke around. See if I can learn anything.” Though she couldn’t really see his facial expressions with her ghirit, she thought he grinned. “Maybe they left a sheet paper lying around. One in which they confess to any misdeeds.”

  She got up as well, “I’ll go with you.”

  He shook his head as if dismayed, “No way. It’s going to be dangerous.”

  Leaning closer, she said determinedly, “The most dangerous thing in this town is you. Besides, you need somebody to examine any accounts you turn up and I’m good a math. And, I’ll bet you don’t even know where Farley lives.”

  He came up short, then turned toward her. Sounding amused, he said, “I don’t suppose you’ll give me his address?”

  “I’d better show you.”

  ~~~

  They started at Harrington’s bank since—except for any guards—it should be empty even at nine in the evening. It looked formidable, with bars over the windows and heavy looking doors. After a brief pause out front, Tarc walked around to the alley in back.

  “Are you thinking you can get in?” Gloria asked. “Because I don’t know how you can learn anything at night if you can’t get in.”

  Tarc nodded, walking up to the back door as if he weren’t worried at all.

  “Aren’t you nervous?”

  He shrugged, “A little, but there’s no one around except the guard and he’s taking a nap.”

  “What?!” Of course. He’s got his ghirit out! Why don’t I? Gloria sent hers out and readily confirmed that, in fact, there wasn’t anyone around, not even in any of the nearby commercial buildings. There was a warm body on the upper floor inside the bank, presumably the guard, but as best she could tell he’d pushed several chairs together and was stretched out across them, probably asleep like Tarc had said.

  “I guess you’re right,” she said. “How do you think you’re going to get in? Breaking a window won’t get you anywhere with those heavy bars over them.”

  “I know how to pick locks,” he said, bending down, jiggling and fiddling with the lock at the door.

  “What? Where’d you learn that?”

  He flashed her a grin. “Can’t tell you all my secrets.” He pushed the door open.

  Gloria blinked. I thought they’d have good locks on bank doors!

  Once Gloria was inside, Tarc carefully eased the door closed but left the bolt drawn. He moved his head as if he were looking around despite the dark being so complete that he wouldn’t see anything with his eyes. “So, where should we start?”

  “Start what?”

  “Looking for answers. How much of the money Krait stole did Farley give back to the banks?”

  “I don’t know!”

  “You’re the math wizard.”

  “Show me numbers and I can try to figure out what they mean. But I have no idea where these guys would keep the numbers.”

  “I guess that’s a problem then,” he said ruminatively. “Do you think everyone in the bank would know the answers, or only the president?”

  “I’d think…” she said slowly, “the president and maybe a few others.”

  “So, no use looking for the main account files.” He started down the hall. “Let’s find the president’s office,” he said cheerfully.

  Tarc produced a candle and, though Gloria didn’t see what he did, somehow lit it without striking a match. They used the candle to read the signs on doors. Helpfully, an upstairs corner office proved to be labeled “Frederick Harrington – President.”

  That door was locked as well, but Tarc had it open in seconds.

  Gloria stared at the lock, thinking it looked very well-made. Not knowing he was using telekinesis to lift the levers in the lock and push the bolt, she felt astonished it’d been so easy to pick.

  Tarc used the candle to light one of the lamps. He promptly
turned the flame all the way up and took the lamp with him as he explored the room.

  “Aren’t you worried someone’ll see the light in the window?”

  “They’ll think it’s the guard. Besides, no one’s near.”

  “Okaay,” she said, stretching the word doubtfully.

  He went to the big desk and pulled open a drawer. Lifting out a stack of papers, he handed them to Gloria and set the lamp beside her, “Can you look through these to see if they have any of the ‘numbers’ we’re looking for?”

  “Sure.” Suddenly worried he was going to go out and wander through the rest of the bank, leaving her there alone, she said, “Um, what’re you going to do?”

  “Open the safe.”

  At first, Gloria thought this meant he was going to leave, searching through the bank for the vault where its money was kept. Instead, he went to the wall behind the desk, lifted down a big painting and revealed a safe built into the wall. Oh, she thought, belatedly using her ghirit to sense the cavity of the safe behind the wall. She turned to the stack of papers and started shuffling through them. As she did so, she wondered what good finding the safe would be. After all, safes were notoriously resistant to being opened by curious teenagers. Even ones who can pick door locks, she thought.

  Gloria flipped over at the last sheet in the stack. “Nothing of interest here,” she said. “What’s next?” she asked, turning around. Tarc has the freaking safe open! she thought.

  As if nothing remarkable had happened, he said, “Can you bring the lamp over so I can see in here a little better?”

  Gobsmacked, Gloria put the papers back in their drawer, then picked up the lamp and walked over to hold it over Tarc’s shoulder. “How in the hell did you get that open?!”

  He shrugged, “It’s a combination lock. They’re really easy. Send your ghirit into it and you’ll see that the knob out front turns a stack of wheels. You just turn the knob back and forth until the notches on each of the wheels are lined up. Voilà, it’s unlocked.”

  Feeling somewhat dazed, Gloria sent her ghirit into the lock and found the stack of circular plates Tarc was calling “wheels.” Sure enough, each of them had a notch on it and, at present, they were all in a row with a little bar resting in the trough they made. She could tell how, when the little bar couldn’t fall into the notches, the lock would be latched, but when it fell into the notches, it’d unlatch. “How do you know about things like this?” she asked, worried that he’d trained under some master criminal.