Sam was thrilled the following morning when the clouds rolled away and the sun came out. He had been starting to feel almost as antsy as Nathan, and while he had tried escaping the confines of his room more than once, Royce had always seemed to be there, making him feel as uncomfortable as ever.
Once Fiona had given up on pressing Francis for something to add to what they had already gotten from him, the blond boy had pulled their Control aside and had begun having a rather lengthy conversation with him. It was clear that none of the others in the house were welcome to participate in this discussion, and anytime anyone had even suggested that they might want to approach them, Royce had given that person a menacing stare and the person guilty of intruding had quickly backed off.
The first thing the young Finder did, once free to leave the house, was race down to the beach. Storms always left the potential of particularly good pickings on the shore, and Sam did not need Fiona’s help when he was beach-combing. After days cooped up with a small crowd, he longed desperately for some time by himself.
Grateful for the warm weather, the fresh air, and the smell of the ocean as he inhaled deeply, he jogged happily along the damp sand, dodging the occasional rock and patches of slippery seaweed. Most of what he found on the way was junk, the odd empty bottle, an old buoy, or a tattered piece of rope, but he still had hope. Something inside him told him that he was going to find something completely unexpected that day.
Sam paused from time to time as he moved farther and farther along the beach, straying a fair distance away from their house. He had not intended to go as far as he did, but the compulsion to seek things out was very powerful in him that morning, to the point where it was impossible for him to resist. He dug up a couple of intriguing seashells that he thought Sarah might like, rinsing them off in the tidal pools that could be found sporadically along the long stretches of sand.
He finally arrived at a point where he was fairly certain he had gone farther than he should. He suspected he was about to move outside of the area that Nathan normally patrolled, and something about that felt wrong to him. He would have normally obeyed his instincts, too, if he had not noticed something that piqued his interest to a greater degree than he could willingly ignore. It was small and bright orange, and he could see it wedged between two rocks several feet from where he stood. Treading cautiously, he responded to impulse and made his way over to the small container.
Sam tried to pull the small wax-sealed box free, but the rocks that held it prisoner refused to yield their treasure. The small boy clawed at it, but the outer surface of the box was smooth, damp and slippery, and continuously slid out of his grasp. He spent a few frustrating moments worrying at his find, tugging at it and trying to wiggle it free. Pausing to see if he could come up with a better approach, Sam noticed some movement that he had not been aware of moments before. He peered over the boulders before him and spotted Royce, but the Control was not alone, and Sam did not recognize any of the Bigs gathered there with him.
The small boy ducked quickly back behind the rocks again, nervous that the black-haired Big might spot him and take issue with the fact that Sam was spying on him, even though that was not why the Finder was there. After crouching there for several seconds, his heart pounding and his breath coming in small gasps, he saw no sign of Royce. Sam assumed that he had not been seen, and began to relax again. Once his mind had cleared a little and he was no longer governed by fear, he set about trying to dislodge the orange box again. Much to his satisfaction, his find began to finally yield to all of his prying and a few moments later he clutched the small box in his hand. In fact, he was sitting in the sand staring at his prize, trying to figure out exactly how to open the sealed container when a shadow suddenly blocked out the sun.
Sam glanced up, puzzled, and was horrified to see not only Royce standing over him, but the group of Bigs that he had been consorting with hovering closely behind him.
Spurred by his own terror, Sam scrabbled backwards in the sand, almost dropping his newest find in the process. Before Royce had the chance to react, the small boy leapt to his feet, thrusting the small box deep into his pocket, he dashed away as fast as his short legs would allow. The Control sprinted after him, closely followed by the other strange Bigs. Sam could not help but think that he had stumbled upon something that nobody had been supposed to see, especially not him. He felt the thrum of feet pounding against the sand behind him, and a quick peek over his shoulder was enough to let him know that the black-haired boy was gaining on him. He would catch up to him soon, and if that happened, Sam was sure that the results would be less than pleasant.
It was at that point that Sam decided he had little choice but to call out for help in the connection. He did not have much time left to spare, which meant that there would not be any room for formalities. He figured that this situation might qualify as an emergency based on what Francis had told him about the Directives. He would not be knocking to make contact. In fact, when Sam did encounter Nathan, Fiona, and Sarah in the connection, those closest to him and yet still disturbingly far away, he pushed as hard as he possibly could, allowing fear to reinforce his thoughts.
“Help me!”
Nathan was the first to respond.
“On my way, little buddy. Hang in there.” The thought was brief but firm, and Sam was thankful just to feel the larger boy’s mind.
Fiona was the second to offer him some comforting words.
“We’re coming, too. I’m bringing Sarah to you. We’ll get there as fast as we can.” She was not as close as Nathan, but her contact was just as temporary.
Sarah on the other hand, not only touched his mind, but seemed to hold on to him there.
“What do you see, Sam? Show me what you see.”
The small boy whipped his head around and flashed the image of Royce and his cohorts bearing down on him to his Fixer. Nathan was still nowhere in sight. In fact, Sam was sure that his Watcher still had some distance to clear. If he didn’t do something soon, Sam knew that Royce would reach him long before Nathan would arrive, and the black-haired boy looked like he had murder in his eyes.
“Can you swim, Sam? Can you swim? Francis told me once in passing that Royce couldn’t swim. He won’t follow you very far into the water. I don’t know about the others, but you’ll be safe from him there,” she offered. He could tell that she was feeling just as desperate as he was.
Sam shuddered. The truth was that, while he could swim, he was a very weak swimmer. Given the choice of confronting Royce directly, and facing the chance that he might drown, however, the drowning sounded like the more pleasant way to go. Gritting his teeth, he veered towards the ocean and splashed his way into the water.
His charge into the waves did not deter the larger boy at first. Royce plunged in after him, until the water was waist deep for the Big. Sam struggled against the pull of the tide. The water was excruciatingly cold, and by the time Royce had stopped following him, the small boy was treading water. Sam felt his hands and feet going numb and he soon realized that he had no control over which direction he was heading. The choppy waves, still a little wild from the residual effects of the storm, lapped at his face and occasionally sloshed into his mouth and up his nose. As the taste of salt trickled into his windpipe, he began to gag and choke. Sam felt himself start to panic.
“Sam!” He heard Sarah loud and clear in his head. “What’s going on? Nathan’s almost there and we won’t be far behind him. Are you okay? Did you get away from Royce? You still seem so scared...”
“I’m sorry, Sarah. I did what you suggested, but the water’s so cold and I’m feeling so tired.”
It was hard for him to concentrate as he struggled for breath. At the same time, he didn’t want his last few thoughts to be shared with the rest of the connection. Anything he was going to tell her was to remain just between him and her. He stopped fighting the waves as fiercely, and steeled the link with Sarah.
“Royce was talking with others in secre
t – other Bigs that I didn’t recognize. I don’t think that they wanted anybody to see them, and that’s why he came after me. I found something…a container. I know that it’s something special. I think that it’s still safe in my pocket. When they drag my body out, make sure you get that before they take me away.”
“Your body? Sam – no!” Her push was so forceful that it gave Sam a headache. “Nathan’s just about there. Don’t give up!”
As much as he wanted to listen to her, it was at that very moment that a sizeable wave washed over his head and with little ability left to lift his face above water again, Sam began to sink.
“Sam! Sam!”
He could hear the cries faintly in his head as his vision blurred and the greyness fell over him. He wasn’t sure who exactly it was calling to him, his ability to identify the person who spoke fading along with his consciousness. As the blackness overtook him, he thought that he felt something make contact with his forearm, and he could have sworn that he heard, just barely, “Gotcha.”
* - * - *
“Sam? I think he’s coming around.”
The voice was a hazy one inside his head, but one that he would always recognize, and he knew it was attached to the small hand that rested on his chest, a chest that felt painfully constricted and water-logged. With a few coughing gags, Sam weakly turned onto his side and spewed saltwater onto the damp sand next to him. That was when he noticed that there was still a firm grip on his arm as well. Nathan was there, too.
“Dammit, little buddy, you scared us to death. Don’t you ever do that again, you hear?” He felt the thick fingers by his elbow tighten their grasp a little – one brief and reassuring squeeze.
“What were you doing so far away from home?” Fiona demanded. She knelt beside Sarah, looking equally concerned. “How do you expect Nathan to keep you safe if you don’t stay where he can easily get to you?”
“Fiona,” Sarah protested. “Give him a chance to recover before you start nagging at him. I’m sure that he didn’t mean any harm.”
“Finding,” Sam said shakily, as Nathan helped him to sit up. That was when the smaller boy noticed that Francis was on the beach as well. He stood a few feet away, his arms crossed and his expression grim. Royce has not that far away either, past the Teller. The other Bigs that had been with the black-haired boy were nowhere in sight. “I was finding. I couldn’t help it. There was something there, but then I saw Royce and...”
Now it was Nathan’s turn to respond unhappily.
“I heard Royce and Francis talking while Sarah was trying to revive you. Royce claimed that he was just doing what Francis had asked, giving you a bit of a scare so that I had to come help you. They said that it had something to do with testing my talent, whatever that meant. It sounds like they planned this, and Royce had suggested that he wasn’t really going to hurt you,” the broad-shouldered Big reported.
Sam reached out his mind and touched Sarah’s. They both knew that Royce may have been telling the truth about Francis asking for his assistance in order to test Nathan’s gift, but otherwise he was lying through his teeth. It was clear that he could in no way be trusted.
“Come on, little buddy,” Nathan murmured, lifting Sam out of the sand. “Let’s get you home and rested. The finding can wait for another day.”
With that, he carried the smaller boy back to the house, Fiona and Sarah by his side. Francis, with his familiar melancholic expression, followed a few feet behind them, and Royce stood quietly watching them go, a self-satisfied smirk on his face.
Messages
Sam spent more than a full day recuperating from his close call, with Sarah and Fiona checking in on him at regular intervals. Nathan stopped in a couple of times as well, but there was no sign of Francis at first. In fact, the Teller avoided the house altogether for a couple of days, realizing that he was in the proverbial doghouse for involving Royce in orchestrating the Watcher’s test, and placing Sam at risk. The grazed knee while testing Sarah had been bad enough and Sam started to wonder if Francis had something that he kept hidden well behind his walls that would suggest that he were out to get the smaller boy as much as Royce was. He also didn’t think that the strange Bigs that he had spotted with Royce had anything to do with Nathan’s test, and that part still worried Sam.
When he was finally feeling a little more like his usual self, Sam pulled the small orange container out of his pocket and had Fiona and Sarah join him in his room. He displayed his find to them, placing it in the palm of his outstretched hand. He also offered a visual image for Sarah through the connection as she reached out to touch it.
“What is it?” Fiona asked, eying the strange box warily.
“Something special,” Sam insisted. “Something that I’m sure that I was supposed to find.”
“Okay, but what is it?” she repeated.
“I think that it’s some sort of package,” Sarah suggested. “We need to get it open, to see what’s inside.” She brushed her hand over its surface. “It’s smooth and slightly soft. Someone sealed it in wax, like they were trying to make sure that it was waterproof. I think that they did that because they intended it to pass through the water. What if someone sent it on purpose? What if someone actually used the storm to get it to us on Fervor?”
“Why would anyone do that?” Fiona scoffed. “It was probably something that was being stored somewhere by the shore, and they waterproofed it to protect it in case there were some sort of tidal surge. Although I must say, I am curious to see what’s inside of it. How do you get it open?”
Sam shrugged.
“We have to break the seal somehow,” Sarah offered. “But carefully. We don’t know what’s inside, and it could be breakable.”
“We could try heating it, and melting the wax away,” Sam responded, watching Sarah run her fingers along its edges.
“We’d still have to be careful,” the petite girl insisted. “Whatever’s in here might be flammable as well. We have no idea.”
Fiona disappeared into the kitchen, searching through the various magically fueled implements in order to find something that could help them safely break through the seal. She returned with a tool that generated a small flame and they set about carefully working their way into the container. When the casing finally yielded to their efforts, Sam gently pried it open. There was a roll of paper inside.
“Paper?” Fiona questioned.
“Like a message in a bottle,” the smaller of the two girls laughed. “Is there writing on it?”
Sam both nodded and confirmed this through the connection, giving Sarah a visual flash of the note.
“Can I see?” Fiona requested. Sam passed her the paper
“Read it for me,” Sarah asked.
“On the outside it says ‘for Fiona.’ It’s for me...” the older girl looked startled and almost dropped Sam’s unusual find.
“Go on, go on,” Sarah stated excitedly. “What else does it say?”
“I hope that this makes its way to your Finder and then to you okay. I heard you recently and I know that you are aware of some of the things going on. I don’t think any of the others suspect, not the others on Fervor, and not anyone here either.” She hesitated. “Here? Where’s here?”
“Maybe it says further along – keep reading,” Sam said, eager to proceed..
“I intend on keeping your secret. I want you to know that I never agreed with the way that they decided to do this. The scholars insisted on it. I’m only a technician, but I know the difference between right and wrong – and this is wrong. You are people, not animals, and deserve compassion and fair treatment. I can’t stop things at the moment, and it may be a while before I can come to your assistance, but I have a few ideas, and hopefully I‘ll be able to act on them. The Coming isn’t planned for many years, and I warned them what sort of havoc that this might wreak on your systems, but they won’t heed my advice. Thankfully, they don’t suspect that I’m a latent, so they don’t know that I’m trying to find a way
to get around them. I’ll keep you posted when I get the chance. I pray that this reaches the right hands. It will if your Finder is a strong one. Take care of each other and don’t give up hope.” Fiona paused, glancing over at Sam. “It’s only signed ‘E’”
“Maybe whoever sent this was worried that it might not end up where it was supposed to go, and if he or she gave us a full name, it would get traced back to them, and that would be an end to that,” Sarah suggested. “Whoever it is needed to protect themselves while they are trying to help us. It just makes me feel really happy, knowing that we have an ally out there, somewhere other than Fervor.”
“It makes me happy, too,” the older girl agreed. “You’re right. This is like a message in a bottle, sent to inspire us, but it’s still taboo. If we keep this, we have to make sure that it is somewhere safe, and well hidden. We might want to make sense of it first, if we decide that we have to destroy it – like, what did this E mean by ‘a latent?’ What is ‘the Coming,’ and why would it harm us?”
“We don’t need to destroy it,” Sam claimed. “There’s an old hover behind the house, and you can hide it in there, Fiona. The rest of us aren’t allowed to touch it, and certainly not allowed to go inside it. It will be safe there. I was thinking about the other things you mentioned. If E heard you the other day when you were shouting, and he knew your name, then that suggests that whoever it is has access to the connection. Maybe that’s what this person means by being a latent. It is possible that someone other than the children on Fervor could be linked. I don’t know what he or she means by ‘the Coming” though, or why E would think that it will shake things up.”
He had also been thinking that he didn’t like the fact that this ‘E’ had mentioned something about things going on for many years. However, he chose not to bring that up realizing how upset Fiona might become if he pointed that out.
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