Tremble in the Dark: A Gwen Farris Novel

by P. S. Power

  That all you could do was endure, because there was no other choice at all.

  If the students were smart, they'd flip her off and leave, once she suggested they do that. Still, she decided to do it anyway. Why not? They'd all live. Mostly.

  Gwen nearly went to chat about it all with Beth, but she was still on the Telestator, so that decided Gwen to just grab Clara and make certain she got to bed safely. Not that anyone would harm or even stop her, but it was very possible to get lost in that place. It was huge, after all. So much so that it had towers at several of the corners. Now it all made sense to her, but it had taken a long time to really get it.

  The former prostitute seemed ready for bed at least, and Peter walked along behind them, which was interesting. That he was staying there was normal enough, but he was going to be off in the other wing, she knew. In fact, Ethyl had planned it that way, so the boy wouldn't be tempted to try and peek at her or Beth in the shower. He was still twelve after all, and hormones were powerful things.

  Before she could call him on the potential stalking, he raised his right hand toward them both.

  "This is where I need to leave you then. I'll be by in the morning, to get you both up, however. See you then." Spinning on his heel, he strode away as if he owned the whole place. It was cute, but she rolled her eyes.

  "We need to watch that one, or he'll try to convince us that 'guarding us' while we bathe, from inside the room, would be so much more effective than not..."

  Clara looked at her, and made a bit of a face, and then, after a bit, shook her head.

  "Oh, and he isn't really supposed to be watching us then?"

  Gwen nearly said no, and growled at the woman for being dense, but instead just shook her head.

  "Nope. If he wants to watch us naked, he'll have to be clever about it, and sneak in, just like a normal boy. We need to keep up standards after all." She smiled, but didn't know what Clara would say about that at all.

  The other woman nodded.

  "I get it. Don't worry, I'll charge a met to get in the door to watch you Miss. Though for that price you should put on a show. Special tools, and that kind of thing. Else wise it won't seem professional, will it?" The face on the slow woman was perfectly flat, even as she walked into her room and shut the door behind her.

  Gwen could swear she heard gentle laughter, but it ended when she shut her own door.

  After all, it wasn't serious. She could just tell the kid no. Besides, what did she know about "special shows" like that? Not a blessed thing, that was what.

  Chapter seventeen

  The slow pace of things didn't show the next day at all. In fact, Gwen nearly felt rushed, which was a rare thing for this new place. The biggest part of things was that, even though they'd been promised six students to try out the program, they had closer to sixty show up. Mainly people, young men and a few women, that wanted to try things out for themselves.

  Along with not one, but three sets of Newsies, there to watch it all, and broadcast it. Because that was what people wanted to know about. It wasn't enough to be told that it would be painful, awful, and nearly evil. No, they all needed to check it out, first hand. Except for the fact that, after the ten Westmorlands walked into the place, six of them with various gear and two that had come just to watch and take notes on things, almost everyone got suddenly uneasy and uncomfortable.

  Gwen made herself smile.

  "Hey, everyone. What we're going to do today will be set up out back. We cleared a shed for it. That's to keep the screaming from bothering the people in the house. I don't know what you all expect this to be, but you're probably going to leave thinking a lot less of yourselves. Come on." Did she sound angry?

  Probably. Most of these people were acting like ghouls. They'd come to see a freak show, so they could claim they were progressive and open minded. Well, they could have that. Gwen let the Westmorlands do their thing, and got some breakfast along with Peter and Bethany. She didn't really need to hear the screams and moans. She did, as she'd considered doing, suggest that people volunteer to do it without the benefit of being able to quit. Three of the first six tried it that way. Reggie was one, which was a lot tougher than she'd figured he would be.

  That meant, an hour later when she and the others finally worked their way out to the large barnlike structure that had been emptied out, there were three people left working on learning to resist mesmerism. The others had given up, apparently after the first few hits of pure pain. It was a lot worse than most would imagine it being, so she didn't really blame them for it.

  The press was still there, and about half of the people. The rest had taken off already, learning that they weren't nearly as hard core, or as sick, as they'd thought they were. It restored part of her faith in humanity. Out of the whole group, only one or two of the men seemed to be getting off on the idea of others being hurt like this. She tried to memorize the faces. People like that might just show up again later, given her current line of work. Finding killers and the like.

  As the day wore on, she and the others spent most of it in the house, leaving only the Newsies and the three screaming and crying men. Slowly, or really, very quickly, they all learned to resist being taken over when someone else forced themselves into their minds. When they felt even the tickle of someone working their way in, they responded with fear and terror, expecting huge pain to follow. It was primitive really, as far as conditioning went. One of the few things where simply being panicked about something did the trick.

  Thinking about it, Gwen wondered if it could be used for weight loss too? Or to help people stop smoking? If you were willing to go full out like this, you could make a person afraid of food, or think that cigarettes caused pain directly. That would, most likely, do the trick. Most of the things that the Westmorlands did had to be a lot more complicated, but that was classified information. Even she didn't really know what the higher level things were, and she'd been around them a lot, as a group.

  It was almost as bad watching this happen as it had been to live it. Or at least that's what she told herself, wincing and moaning a bit in sympathy each time a new wave of pain hit one of the poor test subjects.

  The truth was, there was no comparing the two things. Not by any stretch of the imagination. She wanted to think that she cared for others as much as she did herself, but if it came down to it she'd sell them all out in an instant, to avoid that kind of pain again. Except, of course, she wouldn't. Would she?

  It was Manly that proved that to her. He was a thin man, and wearing the same uniform as the others, but the instant he stood in front of her, she winced in remembered pain, and felt sick. Just from seeing his face. It wasn't that he was wrong, or ugly. It was just what he'd done to her. To help her.

  She hated him for that and it was all she could do to not hit him, as he smiled, and slapped a small coin sized disk onto the back of her hand. It was white, on the top and a dull, lead colored, gray on the bottom. She didn't have to pry at it to understand that it wasn't going to come off either.

  "Fuck." She glared at it and then him, but the man just took a deep breath and nodded.

  "Teletransport should be within your range of abilities, but it's a real training course. I spoke with Bethany, and she told me what you intend to do. If you can learn to... Replace rifting with devices, it will benefit us all. I... I'm very sorry about all this. It isn't fair." They were standing in the shed still, and no one was paying any attention to her at all, in particular. Reginald and the other two men were all clearly learning to stop some of the most powerful minds in the world, and that, even if there was screaming involved, was fascinating the press people to no end.

  Gwen wondered if any of them would be willing to try it? She doubted it.

  It was strange, but one of the other Westmorlands came over then, and looked at her closely. She was an old woman, and her eyes and face had been seamed with years of pain, remorse and a thousand other things that no one should have to live through, Gwen didn't
doubt. She looked at Manly and waved him away, without introducing herself at all. From the way the man scurried off, it seemed like she was in charge, of something or other.

  "I'm here to teach you to transport yourself from one place to another, instantly. Very few ever learn to do this, and only a handful do it well. You will. You've traveled this way before." It wasn't a question, and Gwen didn't have to ask about it. She'd used spheres for it, after all.

  The woman waited anyway, until she nodded, the screams in the background distracting her slightly from what was going on. It would, she didn't doubt, be her turn soon enough. At least if they were running to pattern on this current training.

  "Yes."

  "Good. Now, remember what that was like. Feel the magic, the release of it, in your memory. The feeling of going from one place to another. What the radiative felt like."

  That part wasn't too hard to do, but the lady moved her to the far side of the barn like structure anyway, taking her by the arm.

  "In a few moments, you will try to travel that way. Moving from here, to the front of the main house. Manly is waiting for you there. If you do that, the pain will stop. You must Teletransport however, from this device," the old woman pointed at a small metal box that reminded Gwen a little of a Geiger counter, if it were painted red. It was about the size and shape of a grade schooler's pencil box. "To him. If you fail to set your hand on it, after I tap the button on the top, you will have incredible pain. If you do not make it to him inside ten minutes, pain will begin and continue to grow worse, until you manage it, or you die. You must understand this. There is a crisis here, and you must go to Manly in order to survive it. So, capture the feeling of using a sphere, and think about the release of energy you need to make that work. Feel how your own information is what needs to be moved, not your body. Do you have that?"

  Gwen thought about it for a minute, wanting to get it right the first time, and not have all that pain. The old woman smiled at her sadly and tapped the button, without giving her time to say yes or no. Pain shot through her, growing steadily. It seemed to come from her center, rather than her hand, but that's where it was being generated from, she didn't doubt. That damn coin thing that Manly had put on her. The jerk.

  She slapped her hand to the top of the box, and the woman stood back, removing herself from arm's reach. That was, Gwen knew, probably to prevent physical attack, even though that wouldn't do her any good. After all, Gwen could send out blasts of energy. Not that it would help her. Right now, she knew, she had ten minutes to get moving, to the front yard of Park Street, or it was going to hurt.

  A lot.

  She didn't know how intense pain had to be in order to kill you, but she wasn't going to doubt that the woman meant what she said. Focusing she tried to remember using a sphere, and the front lawn, both at the same time. She let the feeling of it all wash over her, and poured as much energy into the whole thing as she could manage.

  Then, using her mind's eye, she pushed the little button on the top of her imaginary sphere.

  Which did nothing. Or, well, for the tiniest moment, she almost felt like she was there, in front of the place, but it wasn't enough and she didn't really leave from where she was either.

  Gwen reset, and tried again, which nearly worked, in that she could see the Westmorland she was looking for. Sort of. Like a ghost, overlaid on the world.

  The old woman spoke, her voice calm and a little rough with age.

  "You have about four minutes left. I suggest you focus."

  Gwen flipped her off with her free hand, but didn't stop trying. She knew enough about pain to not want more of it, but no matter what she did, it wasn't working. She could sort of see the front lawn, but that didn't get her there. She needed to add more energy, she thought. That or she had a mental block that was stopping her? If so, she needed to get over that fast, didn't she?

  When the pain started, it was only a dull ache at first, slowly growing stronger. She could tell that she wouldn't be able to really focus, once it got too bad though, so she tried to put everything she had into it. She focused with her whole being, and, as the pain got to a level that she didn't think she could take anymore, screaming at the top of her lungs, she hit the mental button again.

  Only to find herself there, with Manly.

  For nearly three seconds. Then she was back, and in the worst pain she could imagine. She couldn't concentrate, it was so bad. It kept getting worse, even as she listened to the old woman, who was yelling to be heard over the screams.

  "Focus! You nearly had it. Do it again. Now! Do it or die! Now!"

  Gwen... did. She was there, suddenly, not remembering how she did it at all. Standing next to the man in dark blue, who hit at her, tapping her left hand with a small silver paddle. The pain ended then, suddenly.

  She celebrated by passing out. Unfortunately, instead of coming to in a comfortable bed, or even on a nicely manicured lawn, she found herself back in the little shed, listening to Reggie and his pals yell and bellow. The Newsies were all looking at her now, and one held a microphone toward her face.

  "Miss Farris, are you all right? How do you feel?" It was Will Werner, from WGN. Normally they were, if not friends, then at least amiable acquaintances. At this moment it took work not to stand up and kick the man in the balls.

  How did she feel?

  Well, the pain was gone, but that didn't last long, since the old woman tapped the button again.

  "Five minutes this time."

  She didn't get to chat with Will, but only had to find the same place, in the front of the house. On the good side, she made it that time, with only enough pain to make her scream, and not lose consciousness.

  On the bad, she was taken back to the shed almost instantly. The time frame got shorter and shorter, but, unlike the other times that she'd done things like that, after the first ten iterations, she was actually allowed to rest. In order to eat something. Not that she was hungry at all.

  Bethany walked her into the house, and glared at the Newsies that tried to follow along. It was like guiding a sick person, or one that was very old, Gwen thought. Her friend held on to her right arm and carried a large portion of her weight.

  "You're doing very well. I thought you might. That speed flying you did showed great skill in the right area for it. You need to eat though. I was told you have twenty minutes."

  "Yay. A whole twenty minutes." She let herself sound bitter, and didn't even feel happy about having managed to go to the front yard like she had. It was impressive, she guessed, but all she could think about was the pain to come. They'd keep pushing her, into harder and more challenging things, not letting her fail at all.

  There was no getting out of it either. The disk on her hand would probably knock her out with pain if she tried to take it off, before the course of action was done. Instead of worrying about that, she just ate what the middle aged cook, Magda, provided her, sitting in the kitchen itself, not really tasting it. It was just bread with some butter on it, she thought. No seasonings. Enough to let her keep going, but not to distract her from what she had to do.

  The rest of the night went like that, with the shed being filled with bad memories and screaming. Even the press left, before anyone was finished for the day at all. She got to go some places at least. At first she had to travel to distant locations, though ones she'd been before. That was interesting and while hard, she was sort of getting the hang of it. At first Manly was in each place, but then he stayed in the room and the old woman went out. That was harder, since she really wanted to avoid the lady. Which was the point, no doubt. She had to be willing to go to places, or people, that she might want to avoid.

  Then she had different Westmorlands to work with, and finally, at about five in the morning, she was given four hours to sleep. Not in a bed, just right there, next to the pain device, on the bare earth floor. On the happy side, the screaming was done, and all of the others had graduated from the class.

  That meant she was alone
when she woke up.

  Well, as long as she didn't include the six Westmorlands standing there, yelling at her.

  "Get up! Here's a list. You get ten minutes to get to all of these places. Collect the token at each one and get back here! Go!" She couldn't tell who was saying it, but she moved, because a bare trickle of pain started and she didn't want it to get worse.

  When she got to Central, the first place on the list, there was a thin coin on the ground, which ended the pain when she picked it up. For about ten seconds, then it started again. That meant she had to go to Aubry, into Christophe's front yard. After that, almost exactly ten seconds later, she hit the Western Coast, then the University commons. That one was harder, since she couldn't find her token at first, and had to search the open square for nearly a minute while people gaped at her. The pain was pretty intense by the time she got it.

  Over and again she picked up the tiny bits of metal relief, only to have that fade. It got harder and took longer each time too. By the end she was in agony, even as she struggled to get back to the shed. In her right hand she had ten little bits, which she handed to the woman that had been speaking in the first place. Then she hit the button on the top of the little box and smiled.

  "Very good. Now, you have ten minutes to find Heather Westmorland. Go."

  That almost didn't work at all. She had to struggle to find the woman, and when she did, was in so much pain that she simply collapsed.

  Heather grabbed her, and pulled her over to a sofa, inside a room in Central, Gwen thought.