“You are hardly a spinster!” Deliverance cried, indignant for her friend, remembering Mallory insinuating such at the ball.
“I am twenty-eight, unmarried, and perfectly happy to spend my inheritance as I see fit, doing whatever I damn well please. It is a lonely existence at times, but nonetheless fulfilling. Besides, I have my work as a healer,” Addie informed her.
By the end of the day, Deliverance was glad she had accepted Addie’s invitation. She had a whole new perspective on one of Jack’s oldest friends and was delighted to know her.
Before she left in the car with Stevens to go back home, Addie called to her, “If you ever need my help in any way, you let me know.”
“I may at that,” Deliverance replied gratefully and waved goodbye.
***
That night, over dinner, Jack seemed preoccupied. It was not until he called everyone into the drawing room for a family meeting that Deliverance understood why.
“I have yet to secure the last vote we need, but apparently Doctor Asher,” Jack said his name with acrimony, “has let the cat out of the bag.” Deliverance wondered why Doctor Asher would keep a cat in a bag, but then decided he was obviously deranged. Someone should stop him from being cruel to animals, however.
“He maintains he had to tell the relevant people in order to secure the facilities and proper equipment to document Deliverance’s healing process. Apparently, that involves telling everyone associated with the Nar Project about our visitor. The man is a menace!” Jack fumed, raking his fingers through his rooster’s crest of hair. The motion stood his hair even more on end than it normally did.
“Wait, so how many people know about me!?” Deliverance asked, panicked.
“At least twenty. They have a history of government subversion, though, so hopefully they will keep their traps shut long enough for me to somehow weasel that last vote out of one of those stodgy technocrats in our way,” Jack admitted gravely.
Mrs. Potter chimed in, “This foreboding.” Stevens nodded his agreement.
“That being said, they are reading to proceed…which means tomorrow. If you are ready, Deliverance. We can have a go at trying to heal you. Are you ready?” Jack asked, hesitation in his voice.
“I am,” Deliverance asserted, no hesitation in hers. Who knew how long the food bringers would continue to support Effie and her mother? Time was of the essence.
***
“Are you really ready?” Jack asked her, that night, when they were wrapped up together in her bed.
“I have to be,” she replied, sinking her face into the front of his shirt. He smelled like Mrs. Potter’s lavender laundry soap and his own sea-and-pine musk.
“Just remember how you got control when you absorbed my gift. You will have to do the same thing when Eleanor restores your rightful gift. And it will probably be violent, since she will be restoring you to your full adult power.” Jack cautioned her.
“I know,” Deliverance said, and to add emphasis to her point, she grabbed a little of his gift from his skin and lit a small flame, dancing it from finger to finger until she extinguished it. Jack smiled down at her.
“Getting pretty good at that,” he remarked, and began playing with the short, wispy locks at the back of her head.
“Does it not unsettle you? Me absorbing your gift?” Deliverance inquired curiously.
“Nothing you could do would unsettle me, love. Although you do drive me rather crazy.” He growled and they fell into each other for a while.
Later, exhausted, Deliverance lay with her back to Jack as he traced lazy circles across her skin with his fingers.
“Sun, moon, truth,” he murmured. Deliverance turned to him.
“Come again?” she asked.
“What three things cannot long be hidden? The sun, the moon, and the truth,” he answered cryptically. “It a mantra—something people repeat to themselves to help them focus.”
“Ah yes! I read about this. Buddha, yes?” Deliverance replied, pleased she knew something of his culture finally.
He chuckled. “Yes, I believe so, although I saw it on a television show about werewolves.”
Never mind, Deliverance thought. There was still an overabundance to learn about his culture.
CHAPTER 25
Deliverance
No one spoke at breakfast the next morning; a pall enveloped them all. Even Eleanor was silent, for once her bubbly nature dampened. Her amber eyes stood out starkly against the slate-colored crop of hair growing on her scalp. They were intense with concentration, with preparation.
Before they got in the car, with Stevens at the wheel, Mrs. Potter pulled Deliverance into a strong embrace. She smelled of baby powder, roses, and cardamom, the pillow-y softness of feminine age. “You be brave, Miss,” she said, fighting tears in her watery eyes. She cleared her throat, in her Arcanton-ness unaccustomed to strong shows of emotion, and let Deliverance go. Deliverance slid into the car, with Eleanor between her and Jack, and they pulled out of the drive. Deliverance cast a glance over her shoulder, taking in Hathaway and Mrs. Potter standing resolutely outside waving them goodbye and had the sinking feeling she may never see the place again.
“We’re going to the auxiliary facility, Stevens,” Jack instructed, breaking Deliverance’s dark thoughts.
“Yes, sir,” Stevens replied, obviously already knowing where they were going.
Jack seemed distracted as well.
“Hey,” Deliverance called to him softly above Eleanor’s bristly head, “Sun, moon, truth.”
Jack smiled at her gratefully. “Sun. moon, truth,” he said back to her.
***
When they arrived, they swung into a secured car park of a massive, hulking square of a building. There did not seem to be any windows, and the structure stood out with its crisp, no nonsense lines, against the gentler, swaying autumn trees. It was as if the building were uninterested in the irrelevant chatter of the leaves rustling in the breeze.
Inside the austere yet clinically clean lobby of the building, their party was greeted by Dr. Phillips. She strode right up to Deliverance, examining her as though she were a cow for sale or a piece of art on display. Up close, Deliverance could see the professor was just beginning to show the signs of age in her lightly lined, pale skin. Her blonde hair was brushy and trailed with the vestiges of beginning grey. Her cerulean eyes were devoid of emotion; it was unsettling. Jack coughed to get her attention.
“Hmm, there are no outward signs that she is Narisi. Interesting,” Dr. Phillips noted of the subject with clinical coolness. Then she turned to Jack. “I am excited to be included in this research. It is utterly fascinating.”
“She is looking at Deliverance like she’s a guinea pig in a cage,” Eleanor whispered to Stevens, although Deliverance heard her quite clearly.
“Right…shall we?” Jack said, clearly not enthused to be yet again in Dr. Phillips’ presence. The professor led them through a series of hallways and into a large conference room. The entirety of one wall was lined with windows facing out into the expansive room, almost like the gymnasium Eleanor had shown her earlier in one of their tours of Lontown…except f
or the thickly padded walls. Septic bright lights illuminated the space both in the conference room and the large area on the other side of the thick windows.
Assembled in the conference room was a team of people in lab coats, including Lord Asher. Deliverance was surprised at the tug of emotion she felt when her eyes landed on her father, but quickly tamped it down. From behind the sea of crisp, white coats popped a curly blonde head and familiar cornflower blue eyes.
“Addie!” Deliverance cried, greeting her new friend.
“I asked her to be here. I trust her,” Jack informed her as the women traded embraces. He eyed Dr. Phillips when he said the last sentence. Eleanor received a warm hug from Addie as well before Lord Asher broke in.
“All right, well let’s get started,” he said, taking control. Dr. Phillips, Deliverance noticed, cast her father an annoyed glance before schooling her features. That was troublesome, but her attention was soon needed elsewhere.
The first part of the process was to document her, for lack of better words, Narisi-ness. They had to prove first that she was from Nar and then that she had an active magical malady. This included long recorded interviews with video. The team of coated minions, as her father rudely called them, interviewed first Deliverance, then Jack, and finally her father, who confirmed her heritage. They also asked Deliverance all about life on the island, including the name-curse and how women were treated.
“It’s to add an emotional appeal to our cause,” one of the minions explained.
When that was completed and everyone was adequately refreshed with tea and coffee, the next exercise began. Lord Asher led Deliverance and Jack into the large gymnasium on the other side of the glass. The leaden door to enter the space was sturdy and locked from the outside. The space seemed even larger as they walked in. The ceilings appeared at least two stories up, the walls generously padded in gaffer-tape colored mats. The only incongruous wall was the one with the wide observation windows.
“The glass is high impact, bulletproof. The walls can take a ballistic impact. But don’t worry, we will be able to communicate through the two-way intercom system,” Lord Asher said as he pointed out various features of the room.
Deliverance swallowed. They were prepared for a violent transition.
“Now remember, the easier you can make the transition into your healthy, adult powers, the better. It will help in convincing Parliament it will not be as chaotic as they think.”
Deliverance nodded, her palms sweating.
“I will leave you two in here to begin the first part of the process. Just listen to the instructions coming from the intercom…” Lord Asher said, then paused. “Good luck,” he said finally, patting Deliverance on the shoulder awkwardly, and left the room without another word.
Jack rolled his eyes after her father. “Hey,” he said, reaching out to squeeze her hand. “It will be okay, love.”
Deliverance nodded, wanting to believe his words, needing to believe his words.
The intercom crackled to life. “Can you hear me?” Lord Asher’s voice came over the loudspeaker. Jack gave him a thumb’s up. “Brilliant. Let’s begin.”
He had Deliverance walk through showing the camera how she could not mimic powers by touching Jack through his clothes or hair first. Then he had her show the camera how once they pressed their hands together, she could light a flame in her palm, a twin to the one Jack now displayed.
“Yes, very nice. See how it is nice and controlled?” Lord Asher noted for the video. Deliverance and Jack traded a glance. The audience did not have to know they had practiced.
Deliverance made a show of manipulating the flame, keeping it carefully under control. After a bit of this, Lord Asher called that part of the data collection a wrap.
“We’re going to continue straight into the healing phase. It’s best if you do not have anything in your stomach,” Lord Asher said over the intercom. “Jack, if you could?”
Jack looked reluctant to leave the observation room. He squeezed Deliverance’s hand tightly.
“Just remember, Sun, Moon, Truth,” he said, and she smiled what she hoped was a reassuring smile at him. Then, after one more moment of hesitation, he left the room, trading places with his younger sister.
Eleanor, for her part, looked entirely more assured. She had donned one of the crisp lab coats the minions had given her, and it looked smart on the girl. Eleanor stood beside Deliverance as introductions were made for the video and a detached voice explained Eleanor’s gift for the recording.
“Okay, it looks like we’re ready. All the diagnostic sensors have been turned on and are reading properly. You can commence, Eleanor,” the voice instructed.
Eleanor turned to face Deliverance and asked her, “Ready?”
Deliverance nodded, certain. “Ready.”
At first it was just the same as Eleanor had done before. Her eyes began to glow green as she elevated off the floor, palms upon Deliverance’s. Suddenly, though, her entire head snapped back at an unnatural angle and came forward again, mouth agape. Deliverance felt herself being lifted slowly off the ground, as if the very marrow in her bones was magnetized. Green light poured from Eleanor’s mouth into Deliverance’s, which involuntarily was pried open by the force of Eleanor’s gift. Deliverance could feel the regurgitated magic circulating through her bloodstream, entering her cells, prodding.
Then with a gasp of blinding pain, she felt the magic latch on. Her organs screamed, crying out at the intrusion. Her very blood felt like it was boiling. Deliverance bit her lip hard, but kept her palms upon Eleanor’s, although she found through a haze of pain, she could not have removed them even if she wanted to. They were locked in place. Deliverance could barely bear the wrenching pain and detachedly, she heard a scream. It took her a moment to realize it was her own. Then, when she thought all the bones in her body might disintegrate into dust, Eleanor’s head reared back at that terrible angle once again. Deliverance felt the magic seeping back out of her mouth, being pulled toward Eleanor’s impossibly gaping one.
As the force left her body, a great white light flashed before Deliverance’s eyes, followed by a deafening ringing in her ears. The world tilted impossibly. She could not hear anything above the ear-piercing tone. Vaguely, as her vision cleared slightly, she became aware Eleanor was being rushed from the room. Everything shuddered. Suddenly, her vantage point was different. She was looking down on the room from above, then suddenly she was staring at the ceiling from the floor. Her vision would not still—frames jolted around her as she felt a sickening thud through her bones.
As she tried to focus, the ringing in her ear lessened enough she could hear a voice over the intercom. “Try to calm yourself!” it yelled, causing her head to spin. Then the world was spinning again…or was she spinning? She could not tell.
“Oh for Christ’s sake, give me the damn mic!” another voice said. Jack’s voice.
Deliverance tried to focus on that sound, and the ricocheting world began to slow.
“Deliverance. Love. Focus on my voice,” Jack’s voice came in over the loudspeaker. She was trying but everything was so disorienting. The world kept flipping upside down then right side up again. “Hey, over here by the windows.”
Deliverance sc
rewed her face in concentration. Yes. The windows. She could see them. She could see Jack there. Her eyes zeroed in on his face. And the world began to settle. Slowly, she realized she was clinging to the wall, like a squirrel almost a story up. She tried to descend but the world became shaky again.
“Easy does it. That’s my girl.” Jack spoke to her through the microphone.
Step by laborious step, she detached herself from the wall, concentrating with all her might on her lover’s face behind the thick glass. As she neared him, she held his gaze. Mossy green to near black.
“Breathe, darling,” he said, and put his hand up to the glass. “Sun, moon, truth.”
“Sun…moon…truth,” she repeated, touching her hand to his through the glass. She felt a stilling in her as her body seemed to wrap around itself, pulling its new power under her control. Sun…moon….truth. And finally, the world stopped gyrating.
“Good! Beautiful! Now, do not be alarmed. There will be a man entering the observation chamber. His name is Niles. He’s here to help,” Jack said to her. Deliverance nodded weakly.
The sound of the air escaping the door as it opened caused Deliverance to careen haphazardly against the far wall with impossible speed. She heaved a great umpf sound.
The man who entered did so with great calm. He had a kind expression upon his strong face. He wore a simple linen tunic and pants over his cappuccino-colored skin. His head, like Eleanor’s used to be, was completely bald, but he had eyebrows, so Deliverance assumed he was not sick but had just chosen to shave his head. Small constellations of freckles dotted his nose and he smiled a great, white smile. He looked so familiar…then Deliverance remembered Jack’s memory. This must be the same man.
“Jack had a feeling you might be a prowess gift,” Niles said. “My name is Niles. I teach at the kinesiology department here at Oxdale. He had a number of us on standby depending on what your gift showed itself to be.”
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