He had no idea what she was trying to tell him. This was no time for lectures. “Let’s go,” he said.
Veronica’s forefinger traced a large rectangle in the air in front of them. A door materialized. Veronica pushed it open and motioned them through.
They were on a city street, standing in front of a gate in a wall. Veronica pulled her door shut behind them. “Unlatch the gate and go in,” she said.
Miryam opened the gate. The owl flew in, and they all followed.
Storm clouds gathered overhead. A peal of thunder rang out, startling the owl. It flapped its wings and said, “Who-ooo-ooo.”
“Move forward,” Veronica urged. “Hurry.”
Les could hear a babble of voices farther in. He took the lead and followed a path that wound through poplars and issued out into an open area dotted with flowerbeds and fountains.
People milled about in confusion, taking no notice of the new arrivals but blocking their path and their view. Les pushed his way through them, trusting the others to follow. Spatters of rain struck his face and arms.
Once through the crowd, he saw Dr. Tenney, in Peter’s usurped body, standing under a large mulberry tree. Carl stood beside him, looking down. Les drew closer. Only then did he see Trevor lying on the ground between Carl and Dr. Tenney. Les hurried toward them. Miryam caught hold of Les’s hand and ran with him.
Dr. Tenney looked at them and scowled. Les was halted, unable to move closer. Trevor’s body arched and spasmed. Miryam released Les’s hand and ran on. Shouting, “Stop that!” she hurled herself at Carl.
A massive lightning bolt streaked down and struck the ground with a force that knocked Les backward. An enormous clap of thunder deafened him, left shock waves vibrating through him.
He struggled to a sitting position, clapped his hands to his ears, and squinted to see through the afterglow.
The ground beneath the mulberry tree was littered with inert forms: Carl, Trevor, Dr. Tenney’s usurped body. Miryam!
Les staggered to his feet. He lurched to Miryam’s side, bent, searched for a pulse. Nothing.
He knelt beside Trevor; his friend was not breathing.
He stood and howled, “Why? Why did we wait so long? Why did we come too late?”
Inside his mind a voice whispered, It is not too late if you use your gift.
“Veronica!” he shouted.
The small woman hurried up to him.
“What’s my gift?” he demanded. “Tell me.”
“I think you know what it is,” Veronica replied. “You have only to decide whether to use it. No one can make that decision for you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
GIFTED
Les knelt beside Miryam, lifted her lifeless body in his arms, and kissed her lips. Gently he lowered her and went to Trevor. “We swore we’d stand by each other, no matter what,” he said to his friend’s still form. “You promised to help me find my gift. You have.”
He sat on the ground between Trevor and Miryam. Within his mind the lightning bolt had etched a picture framed in fire. Vividly he saw four figures climbing a long ramp. Miryam and Trevor walked together, while Carl and Dr. Tenney in Peter’s body trudged along behind them as if forced to take each unwilling step. Trevor and Miryam climbed joyfully toward an immense being poised at the top of the ramp. Clothed in brilliant light, the being played a haunting air on a reed pipe. Its form seemed human to Les until he saw that its legs were hairy, shaped like goat’s legs, and its feet were cloven hooves.
It ceased its piping, stood, and raised its arms as if to embrace the two who approached. But its golden eyes, terrible and beautiful, were fixed on Les. Come if you will, it seemed to say.
You will accept me in exchange for them? Les did not voice the question; the being had no need of spoken words.
You have that gift—the gift of trading death for life. You must act now, and for them all.
All? I have to restore Carl and Dr. Tenney along with Trevor and Miryam?
The being nodded gravely. They come together; they must depart together.
Trevor and Miryam drew near the top of the ramp.
The exchange, if it is to be made, must occur now, the being sent. How do you choose?
“Miryam, Trev,” Les murmured. “I can’t let you die.”
The being smiled. Death is not the most terrible fate.
They have so much to offer in life.
Then choose.
Les thrust his own image into the picture. He raced up the ramp, careened past Carl and the doctor, caught up with Trevor and Miryam, and dodged around them to stand between them and the welcoming being. They stared at him in amazement. He spread his arms to block their movement. “Go back!”
They opened their mouths as though they would have argued, and Miryam did cry out, “No, Les!” But the ramp dropped away abruptly, leaving Les standing on a flat surface, while the others slid down a sharp decline.
He watched them disappear into the distance below. Then he turned and entered the embrace of the glowing one.
Trevor’s head throbbed. Light filled his eyes, so that he saw only a brilliant glow. The ground beneath him was wet and smelled of recent rain, though no rain was falling now.
Arms supported him and raised him to a sitting position, though he would have preferred to lie still. Hands encircled his neck, and he wondered whether the torture was about to begin again.
No! The power band was gone and he was breathing freely. Someone raised a glass of water to his lips, and he drank with an ease he had not known since Dr. Tenney had punished him.
Nearby a woman broke into loud sobs. He thought that strange, since it was clear that rescuers had arrived.
“Shut up, Miryam! Be glad you’re alive.”
That was Carl. The lightning had struck. He should be dead. He and Dr. Tenney. Trevor shook his head to clear it.
“Careful, Trevor. You’re not yet fully healed.” Veronica’s voice.
He blinked, the light dimmed, and he was able to distinguish shapes through a golden haze.
Dr. Tenney wasn’t dead! Trevor made out the tall form of the Adept’s stolen body. Leila, Doss Hamlyn’s pretty daughter, stood beside him. He had to warn her that the man in that body was not her father’s trusted friend.
“Be still,” Veronica ordered when he struggled to rise. She was behind him, supporting his back. “You can do nothing to help here. You need to rest and let your power come back. I must help others. You will serve best by staying out of the way and letting Leila and me work, and Miryam, when she’s able.”
Miryam. That was who was crying. Trevor tried to turn, but Veronica prevented him. “Don’t move; just rest,” she ordered. “And don’t worry about Carl. I’ve severed the bond between you. He can’t touch you.”
The cruel thoughts Carl had poured into him as Dr. Tenney readied a deathblow against him lingered. Carl wanted me to die with that hurt in my mind. “He doesn’t deserve to be alive,” Trevor said aloud.
“Living is not just for those that deserve it, any more than dying is,” Veronica said, bending toward him. “Now stay here; don’t move.”
“Veronica, look out!” Leila hurled herself between Veronica and the largest owl Trevor had ever seen.
The bird’s curved beak jabbed into Leila’s breast. Blood spurted from the wound, staining the owl’s white feathers. Splashed with crimson, the bird flew upward.
Veronica jumped for it and missed. Its talons raked her hands. It circled once above their heads and vanished into the clouds.
The man who Trevor had thought was Dr. Tenney held Leila, while Veronica worked to stanch the flow of blood. “Fool girl, thinking I needed defending,” Veronica muttered, then called, “Miryam, get over here. Leila needs your healing. I’m too drained from all the others.”
Miryam came from behind Trevor and walked slowly to the injured girl. She seemed dazed. But when she placed her hands over the wound, color came back into Leila’s ashen face.
“
Thanks, Peter,” Leila said to the man who held her. “I’m all right now.” She embraced Miryam. “Thank you, Miryam. I wish I could heal your hurt.”
The man whose body Dr. Tenney had stolen must be back in that body. His actions were not those of the Adept.
Yet Trevor did not think Dr. Tenney was dead. He and Carl were alive; Dr. Tenney must be, too. The strange presence of the owl and its attack on Leila made sense if Dr. Tenney had transformed himself or taken over the bird.
Trevor remembered then what must have been a dream—a dream of walking up a golden road, Miryam at his side, Carl and Dr. Tenney behind them. A strange being waited for them at the road’s end, but before they could reach him, Les had come and—
A sudden dread gripped Trevor. Les!
He whirled around, heedless of the dizziness caused by the rapid motion.
Carl sat propped against the trunk of the mulberry tree. Only a short distance from him Les lay on his back, his body straight, his arms crossed over his chest. Trevor knew before he reached him that his friend was dead.
Numbly Trevor went along with the others to Doss Hamlyn’s home. They found Hamlyn recovering in the care of his servants, the horses having pulled the carriage home. Fortunately, he needed no further healing. Veronica and Leila were exhausted. After forcing Tenney, weak from his near-death experience, out of Peter’s body and transferring Peter’s consciousness into it from the owl, they had restored power to many of those from whom Dr. Tenney had stolen it. The owl’s attack and flight had prevented them from completing that work. Hamlyn offered to take into his home the members who had not yet been healed.
Peter, guarding Carl, whose manner still held a trace of defiance, asked, “What about this guy? What’s to be done with him?”
The question roused Trevor from his stupor. He listened for the response, willing the judgment to be death.
Doss Hamlyn said, “In a sense it’s a good thing he became a member of the Community. As a member, he’s subject to its rules, including some that have not been invoked in years. When a member has misused his power in as harmful a manner as Carl has done, we can strip him of that power and remand him to the civil authorities for trial and punishment. I believe he can be convicted of theft and assault, if Trevor is willing to testify.” He looked at Trevor.
Trevor shrugged. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get him put away for a while, but no punishment’s enough for him.”
“I think you underestimate the effect that being stripped of power will have,” Veronica said.
“He may get out of prison, but the Community will continue to keep him under observation,” Hamlyn said. “We will keep him honest.”
Trevor wasn’t satisfied, but the decision was not in his hands. He sank back into his despondent daze.
While the others made decisions, he followed directions: sat when they told him to, walked when they told him to, went where they took him.
It wasn’t until he, along with Miryam and Leila and Veronica, wound up back in Veronica’s home that he started to feel again. And what he felt was grief intermingled with rage.
Leila brought him a bowl of soup and urged him to eat. He pushed her hand away so roughly that the soup slopped over the bowl onto her hands. She set the bowl on the nearest table and mopped the hot soup off her burned fingers with the hem of her blouse. He should apologize for hurting her, but what did one more stupid act matter?
Leila gave him a pitying look and walked away to join Miryam on the opposite side of the room. They talked together in low tones, and Leila picked up Veronica’s crystal globe and gazed into it.
Veronica walked over to Trevor. “Carl no longer controls you,” she said. “I’ve seen to that. When I healed your throat, I traced that injury to its cause and severed the binding. The ties were not as complicated or as deeply entwined as those that bound Miryam to him.”
He only nodded. He didn’t want to talk to her. She should never have allowed Tenney to escape. She should have foreseen the danger and prevented it. She should have saved Les.
But he had no right to censure anyone. It was because of his folly that Les was dead. If he had listened when Les first warned him about Tenney, his friend would be alive.
“It should comfort you that Les found his gift,” Veronica said.
“A gift of exchanging his life for mine and for the others—what sort of gift is that?”
“The greatest of gifts,” Veronica insisted. “Of the few who possess it, most lack the courage and the love to exercise it. Your friend lacked neither; you should be proud of him.”
“Proud? That Les threw away his life?” Trevor let his bitterness pour out.
Veronica’s sharp voice cut through his anger. “You don’t honor your friend by wallowing in grief. Make his death count for something. Go after Tenney. Clip his wings.”
“How can I do that?”
“You’ll find the way. You have power.”
“Not like his,” Trevor said. “He’s an Adept, and he still has some of the power he drained from the members of the Community. How am I supposed to fight that kind of strength? You couldn’t defeat him. How do you expect me to?”
“I could defeat him, but I’m needed here, and you need the confidence and self-respect that will come from vanquishing the one who did you so much harm. He’s greatly limited by the owl’s body. His own body has been destroyed; I saw to that.”
“How do you know he hasn’t already found another body to transfer into?”
“It isn’t an easy thing to do. He’s been using a lot of power, and he can transfer only if he finds a body handy and conveniently helpless. He hasn’t done so; of that I can assure you. I wouldn’t send you after him if I didn’t feel you had a chance.”
Trevor considered. “A chance. Not much of one.” Everything he had attempted against Dr. Tenney had gone wrong. He didn’t dare try again.
“Will you let Les’s death be in vain?”
“So that’s what this is all about? You didn’t want Les to use his gift to save me, did you?”
“I hoped he wouldn’t have to. Now I’m asking you to prove that you were worth it. You owe it to Les—and to yourself.”
“And if I fail, I’ll prove that I wasn’t worth it.”
Hands on her hips, she glared down at him. “You came here for training in the use of power. How do you think that training is accomplished? It’s through practice. And you’ve had a lot of that recently. You’ve learned that your power has limits, and by calling down that storm you tested your strength and found it greater than you expected and more deadly. You still need to learn to focus. And the only way you can learn that is by doing it.”
He looked away from her, rubbing his hand over the fur he was sitting on. “You talk as though going after Dr. Tenney is just a training exercise.”
“In a sense everything in life is a training exercise,” she said. “We learn by doing. Sometimes the lessons are terribly painful. Your Uncle Matthew sent you here for training because he knew that. He learned the hard way how deadly the careless use of power can be. I’d guess he hoped to spare you the kind of painful lesson he got when he caused the death of his sister. It was, I suspect, his way of redeeming himself.
“Except that his plan backfired, and Les is gone, and if you refuse to stop Tenney, your life will be a failure and so will your uncle’s.”
“That’s not fair.” His rage rekindled, Trevor met her gaze. “My Uncle Matt is no failure, and you have no right to bring him into this.”
“No? He came to this Community for training, and he did learn what talents he had and how to use them to protect himself, but he was always too afraid of hurting anyone to develop them fully. He could have made a real difference if he’d dared to use them in a positive way, as a force for good. I’m guessing that he knows that and that he doesn’t want you to make the mistake he made.”
“And that means I have to go after Dr. Tenney?”
“You don’t have to go after him, Trevor.
You have the opportunity. You have the chance to prove to yourself and everyone else that you can.”
He thought of Uncle Matt and the sacrifice he and Aunt Ellen had made to send him here. He thought of Les and the ultimate sacrifice he had made. Wearily he said, “Tell me where to find Dr. Tenney.”
“He’ll return to his house,” Veronica answered, wiping her hands on her apron. “You’ll have to lure him away from it. He stored power in those diabolical machines of his, and although Peter destroyed most of them, if any at all remain usable, he’ll become more dangerous.”
“I don’t know how I could lure Tenney outside or what to do if I could.” The whine Trevor heard in his own voice sickened him. He despised himself for being afraid.
Veronica stood waiting, arms crossed.
He thought of Les, who’d dared oppose the Adept with no power at all—or none that he knew he had.
He met Veronica’s eyes. “I’ll do it,” he said in a sudden burst of resolve. “Tell me what to do.”
She shook her head while her gaze continued to burn into him. “I can’t tell you that. After you’ve lured him from the house, you’ll have to find a way, not to kill him but to destroy his power.”
His resolve melted. She was asking the impossible. He pulled up his knees, leaned his arms on them, and lowered his head onto his arms, hiding his face. He heard Veronica’s footsteps march away from him.
A soft touch on his shoulder made him look up to see Leila smiling down at him.
“I’ll help you, Trevor. I owe it to my father to see that Dr. Tenney is stopped. Together we can do it.”
He shook his head, watched her smile fade. Her gaze held no anger, only compassion. Again she touched his shoulder lightly. “It’s all right. You’ve been badly hurt. We shouldn’t ask this of you. I’ll try on my own.”
“No!” He scrambled to his feet. “It’s too dangerous for you. I’ll do it. Veronica’s right. I owe it to Les.”
A Perilous Power (Arucadi Series Book 5) Page 21