Chapter 80

 

Cara

 

 

Chazaerte, who seemed to be really trying hard, offered to go next door and stop the argument, but Issio and Gina, horrified, urged him to stay as far away from it as he could get. They intended to, they assured him.

So, discontented, he wandered away into the front yard and from there to wherever his people went when they left. Jared had spoken of a purplish ambiance, something tinkling like wind chimes, he said, and Gina confirmed an impression of purple, although she hadn't paid much attention to color or sounds. It didn't sound like a place where one actually lived, and Cara had trouble imagining it.

She and Louise accompanied Ann across the street for a look at the fireplace and the spacious kitchen, designed for Al's cake and cookie hobby, and the moment they stepped in the front door Cara could hear the It in the basement raving. It was remarkable how through all the changes it had kept the same basic voice, the one that had demanded her attendance for five endless years, the one that haunted her dreams even now, so that she woke with a pounding heart to the welcome comfort of Jared's arms.

"That sounds exactly like Margo Lindstrom," said Louise. "What in the world are we going to do with these creatures?"

"I like Jared's suggestion," said Cara. "Take them to Or2. Dump them through the portal. Slam the door. If we could only figure how to do it."

"Jared and Issio got the It out of Mimi," said Ann. "I think Louise is right. If they can do that, they can get the door shut too."

"And be sure," said Louise, "the other portals are also locked, from this side. So that nothing more can come through." The Mothervoice switched into Trade for a few minutes, and Louise winced. "And to think, you have three of those things here," she said.

Perhaps they were attracted to those of their blood, Cara thought. And it could be explained, how they had ended up here. Dr. Lindstrom had lived on Haivran, and her only living relative was here, so naturally Dr. Lindstrom had been brought back here. And some sort of hitchhiker from the other side of the open portal had come along without anyone knowing it.

And the D'ubians had come here with their It, Cara reasoned, because they, like the Bahtan girls, were nontraditional, not comfortable on their home world, drawn by the opportunities Haivran offered to the intellectuals, the artists, the unconventional. They hadn't fit into the local D'ubian community, and they had ended up here. And the McIntosh children, who were, everyone agreed, stronger than anyone else, had acquired an It too, which had almost certainly followed them here.

And so they had all ended up on Haivran and, eventually, here in this neighborhood, where there was power shimmering from one end of the street to the other. Cara had no Ears, but she had felt the power Monday night. It had to be dangerous to the Its.

And it had to be attractive, too. Maud felt that the Its were targeting those of their blood lines, and all of those had power – well, most did; Cara herself did not. Which was only partly true; she had enough power to take Jared's hand, to draw him out of the thorns and the strange grassy meadow where he and Issio and Lalia had fought the golden serpent. Not, he said, literal truth, only the way their minds interpreted what they found, the images they made for themselves to explain where they were, but it was a place in which they could have gotten lost. She felt that for herself.

So even she had power, and perhaps that power, too, attracted the Its. The power drew all of the regular residents. Each one, arriving, felt at home here. The children had, and the Bahtan sisters; Jared had, he said, and Cara had felt it at once. That's why she loves the neighborhood, Gina said when Maud mentioned Ann's heritage.

"I was thinking yellow," said Ann, waving an arm at the front windows, and Louise murmured approval.

"More gold," she said, "with the fireplace. That's a nice feature."

"Think how lovely on a cold winter night," said Ann.

The Mothervoice in the basement rose obscenely. "Don't let it bother you," said Ann, looking at Cara with concern. "I know; it must bring back memories – but it's in a cage now; it can't hurt anyone."

"As long as it stays in the cage," said Cara, thinking of Mimi. "As long as it's kept alive in the cage."

And that was when the headache hit.

 

Issio and Gina had chosen to stay in Cara's living room, well out of the way of the emotional thunderstorm that was still in progress in Issio's house. Cara was vaguely aware of the shouting next door as Ann and Louise guided her across the street. And there were doors slamming, which hurt her head, but not as much as the sunshine; she kept both hands over her eyes.

Issio and Gina sat on the couch, talking with Willis, and they all jumped up at once when Ann got Cara inside and put her down into the living room recliner, the new one, not as battered as the one in the bedroom. "Headache," said Louise, getting hold of the remote, cutting out the sunshine as she darkened the windows, and Cara heard steps and murmurs.

"Jared will wish to know," said Issio, and Cara lifted the edge of one hand and saw that he was getting out his phone.

"No, don't interrupt him," she said. "I have pills somewhere."

"Right here," said Gina, appearing from the bathroom with the bottle in one hand, and Willis, looking glad to have something useful to do, grabbed a glass and filled it with water from the cold storage in the keeper.

"These are huge," he said, watching as Ann shook one out of the bottle.

"Bahtan pills," said Cara; it hurt, she noticed, to talk very much, or to move her head, or to open her eyes to the light. Closing her eyes, she groped for the pill and someone put it in her hand and Willis gave her the glass.

"Cold pack," said Louise, and Cara leaned back and closed her eyes again, hearing people moving about, Issio's voice at a distance, Willis by the breakfast bar. He wanted to know about the mouse, formerly the fly, in Ann's basement.

"Because they send power," he told someone, "right at Cara; I saw it. No, it's not migraines, not ordinary stuff like that, it's power."

"Here, try this," said Louise, laying a cold pack over her forehead and eyes. It hummed softly, chilling, and it kept out the light, too.

"I never have headaches," said Cara, recognizing that it didn't make much sense to say it while she was lying in the recliner with a cold pack over her face, but it was true, anyway. She had never before had headaches like this. And when you think she had lived five years with Dr. Lindstrom and had actually had no serious headaches, even with all the stress . . . So maybe Willis was right; it was something to do with the Its.

But they didn't need the headaches; they thought they could kill her with the knife, she thought, as her thoughts began grow fuzzy at the edges; the pill was working. Presently she would sleep, and wake with the worst of it behind her. She ought to move into the bedroom, she thought, lie down out of the way, so that her friends did not have to be so quiet and so concerned here in the dark, but she couldn't quite get her body to move that far. It was too comfortable in the recliner, where Jared so often sat, sprawling at ease.

There was something in the darkness with her, something large and menacing; she could see it clearly now that she had her eyes closed, and it was moving toward her. It made her think a little of Dr. Lindstrom, heavy and bulky and, in the dark, vaguely Earthian in shape, and she didn't want it coming close to her. She roused herself enough to straighten up, to meet it on her feet, or anyway what passed for her feet, with her full strength.

Seeing her up, aware of it, on guard, it reared back and then flung itself at her, and she met it with both fists, thrusting with her own body, shoving it away from her. It staggered back a step or two and then lunged again, and she met it this time with a foot, like a fighter, like Sofi doing ma/hifez moves, although Cara was in no way as graceful or practiced as Sofi. But it worked; the dark thing fell back again and this time she went after it, kicking with the other foot before it could get its balance, sending it flying across the space around them, an area she couldn't define or even clearly see. It was large; she knew that. The space held something like an echo as they moved.

And the dark thing slid across this space, where it collided with something else, something smaller and not as strong, although a creature of much the same sort. They fought together for their feet, for their stability, and Cara kicked again and when a third thing came at her from the side she swept her arm at it and sent it, too, flying; she was pleased at how easy it was to do this, when she had never in her life studied martial arts and had never actually had any fighting experience, even playground pushing and shoving, since she had little acquaintance with playgrounds.

There was a being there, in the shadows; she thought it stood in a doorway or a gate or something on the line of those arches in the conference room, but it was lost in shadows and she couldn't make it out. It was bigger than the three she had knocked aside, and it was watching her, and she had the impression that it was more powerful than the others, and perhaps this was the one really in charge. But it was no more than an impression; she did not have time to think about it, because even as she looked the shadows swallowed all of them, all four of them, and then it was quiet again and she was –

Not alone. She was held in familiar arms, held safe. "I told them not to interrupt you," she said, and felt his hand gentle on her head, holding her against his shoulder.

"No one's interrupting," he said. "I have nothing to do that's more important than this. Go back to sleep, Cara mia. I'm right here; I'm staying with you."

And so, in the twilight of the darkened windows, under the protection of the humming cold pack, against Jared's shoulder with his arms around her, Cara went to sleep.

 

She was still in his arms when she woke; she could feel that without even opening her eyes. Ever since the day she first met him, she had slept with his heartbeat in her ear, infinitely comforting; she lay now with her eyes closed feeling his body under her and his arms around her and his heart beating, a calm and confident sound.

There were people moving around at a little distance, soft voices, footsteps, an odd mechanical crunching sort of sound she couldn't identify. She thought she could hear Sofi's voice, slightly raised, with an angry note; she was still fighting with Zarei, Cara supposed. And somewhere close by she heard a voice she was beginning to know very well; Maud murmured something and was answered briefly, and Cara opened her eyes to see who else was there.

There was a small thump of pain when she opened her eyes, but it had a faded, tired quality about it, a headache on its way out of her head, and good riddance, too. She was in the bedroom, and Jared, propped up against the headboard, held her protectively close. The door was open and she could see movement in the living room, several people, and that crunching noise was coming from there. She couldn't think what that was; she lifted her head, and Jared stirred and put her head back down on his shoulder. "It's okay," he said. "Don't worry about anything."

"What's that noise?" she asked.

"Which one?"

"It sounds like something is chewing glass," she said, and felt, more than heard, his laugh.

"Yes, well, it is," he said. "The small cleaner; it's clearing up the broken glass on the carpet."

"What broken glass?" She lifted her head again, and this time he let her move.

"The water glass," he said, "smashed on the floor. The cleaner already got the water sucked up, and now it's working on the glass."

"How did that happen?" Cara tried to remember; was it the glass Willis had given her? She had washed down the pill and then she thought someone had taken the glass from her and no doubt put it somewhere. She hadn't been paying attention. She would have heard, surely, if they had dropped it.

"Well," said Jared, and he glanced over her head; she turned and saw that Maud was in the recliner by the bed, and Chazaerte was on the bench by the vanity, holding a coffee cup. They both looked very serious, she thought.

"Are you feeling better?" Maud asked; she sounded, Cara thought, as if she were really concerned, and that was nice, in a weird sort of way, that her mother and her brother were interested in how she felt. "Mother" wasn't a concept Cara connected with interest and concern, and she had never had any experience with a sibling. She had no way of knowing what they were likely to do.

And she certainly expected nothing much from this particular mother.

But. "Yes, a lot better," she said, and sat up, moving cautiously in case the pain caught up with her; besides, it felt good in Jared's arms and she didn't want to leave them, no matter who else was in the room. He showed no inclination to let her go, either. "So who dropped the glass?" she said. "It better be one of the old ones. Not from the set Lalia and Zarei gave us."

"No, it was one of Jared's," said Maud. She glanced at Jared and at Chazaerte, as one seeking the advice of others, and then she shrugged. "And no one dropped it; it fell."

"It was knocked down," said Chazaerte by the vanity.

"How," said Cara, leaning comfortably against Jared, enclosed in his arms, "can there be a big dark mystery about a glass breaking? You're acting like it's something you shouldn't tell me."

"Sweetheart," said Jared, "before we tell you about the glass – "

"And the beer bottles," said Chazaerte, and Maud glowered at him. "Well, you can still smell the beer in the carpet out there," he pointed out. "She's going to notice, and the lampshade, too."

"What lampshade?" demanded Cara, and twisted her head for a look at Jared.

"First," he said, "can you tell us about the headache?"

"What about it? It just happened, the way they always do. All of a sudden, while I was at Ann's house, and she and Louise brought me home and Gina got a pill and Willis got the water and I went to sleep in the recliner. I told them not to bother you, but they must have called anyway."

"Which is something else," he said. "It's too far between the Institute and here for Ears to work. Distance matters, I don't know why," he explained. "I can hear them next door once in a while, but not often."

"Sofi – " said Chazaerte.

"She came over because she heard all the banging and crashing," said Jared. "Nothing to do with Ears at all."

"What banging and crashing?" said Cara, pulling away far enough that she could see his face.

"The point is," said Jared, lifting a finger as if asking her to wait just a moment, "I heard Issio at the Institute; I heard his voice, saying that it was Cara, it was important. By the time he reached me by phone, I was already on the way home. And that's interesting; that's never happened before."

"Well," said Maud, as one feeling her way, "you and he worked together Monday night, very closely – "

"Besides, you're using your Ears more," said Chazaerte. "Practice, you know. Makes perfect."

"So you can Hear him from further away?" said Cara. "Really? Is he still here, by the way?"

"Yes, he was gluing the rung of the stool," said Chazaerte. "And when you think about it, it makes sense; there was the emotional thing, too. He was all upset, and you were upset when you Heard him, and that would make – "

"Okay," said Cara, tired of waiting for a break in the conversation. "What banging and crashing and what about the lampshade and the stool and the beer bottles?"

"After you took the pill," said Jared, "after you lay down in the recliner, did you go to sleep right away? Do you remember anything happening? Did you have any dreams?"

Cara couldn't imagine what dreams had to do with broken glasses and stools, but he seemed to think it was important. By now the dark shapes lunging for her in the shadows had lost some of their urgency; she was more aware of the emotional content of the dream than the events, but she made an effort to describe it, the big vaguely Earthian shape, the two smaller, weaker beings, and the one in the arch or the doorway or whatever it was, looking on, a sense of power and danger that dissipated with the rest of the dream. Halfway through her description she felt Jared's arms tightening protectively around her. Chazaerte and Maud listened intently, leaning forward to catch every word.

"But I drove them off," she said. "At least, that's how it felt; I drove them off."

"Well," said Maud after a moment, "you probably did."

"Power," said Chazaerte, "all over the place, just like I told you, just flying loose, the excess from whatever she was doing – "

"What were those things?" demanded Jared, holding her close. "Those are the Its, right? The Its, attacking Cara; Willis said they caused the headaches."

"He can feel power," said Chazaerte, sounding very positive. "I can follow the traces energy leaves in the atmosphere. Down here or up in our places, it's all the same. Maybe a little clearer up in our places. And he can feel the energy moving down here; I believe it, about the Its."

"Well, then, we'd better do something," said Maud, sounding alarmed. "We'd better get them out of here, to where they won't bother Cara."

"They've been here for weeks," said Cara. "I was in contact with two of them that night in Mimi's basement and I didn't get a headache, but I got one – oh, back before we even caught the D'ubian It. I don't think they're that big a threat. Besides," she added, thinking of that fourth one, the one in the doorway, "I don't know if it matters if they're here or somewhere else."

"And she has defenses," said Chazaerte to Jared and Maud.

"What defenses?" Cara demanded.

"Sweetheart," said Jared, "while you were fighting the Its, things in the house were kind of moving around. I didn't see the water glass, or the beer bottles, I admit. They told me about that. But when I pulled into the driveway I heard a lot of noise, like people throwing things in the house, and Sofi and Zarei were running across the lawn to see what was going on, so they heard it too. And when I opened the front door – that was the stool," he told Chazaerte. "It went sailing right past me and hit the far wall in the living room and that was how the rung was broken. And the lamp," he said. "The light came on, and it lifted right off the end table, and flew across the living room and it made a turn in the air. A right angle turn, so it could hit the bathroom door. That was amazing."

"It didn't break," said Maud. "It just dented the shade. Sofi put it down with the dent at the back, where it won't be noticed."

"Are you telling me," said Cara, "that I made these things move?"

"Neither of my children are without power," said Maud, not quite bragging.

"I made them move with my mind?" said Cara, staring from one to the next. None of them seemed half as surprised as she was, not even Jared.

"We think so, yes," he said. "Nothing else quite explains it."

"Zarei, when she saw what was going on, came and got Mother and me," Chazaerte told her. "And it was mostly over when I got here, but you could still feel it, the power just sizzling and popping in the air; it's no wonder Willis could feel it. I'm surprised the rest of you didn't."

"But I never – "

"Actually," said Maud, "you've been seen using this talent of yours, but only in very small ways, in times of great stress and danger, not, of course, just to rearrange the furniture or set the table. I thought it was just a little talent." She gave Jared a rueful smile. "You two conceal your talents very well," she said.

"So well," said Cara, "that I never knew I had it myself. Did I hurt anyone?"

"No, nothing came anywhere near anyone," said Jared. "And I don't think it would; I think you direct it somehow, subconsciously."

"But heaven help anyone who attacks you," said Chazaerte.

"Which," said Maud, "brings us back to the Its."