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“I’m happy to see you too,” Roan laughed in her ear. “Did you turn? I didn’t see you,” He asked excitedly.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Did you see me turn?” He asked with embarrassment. So the ripping was clothes, she thought and not skin. She tried to hide her blush as she was a little disappointed at not seeing a naked Roan, she realized to her surprise.
“Only the first part, the sun hit my eyes and I missed most of it,” She said, trying to put his mind at ease. “But something did happen,” She whispered. They both moved to the cots, sitting, facing each other, leaning in so they could be quiet. She felt his breath on her ear. Again, her sense of touch so heightened she felt a shiver move down her back.
“My nails grew, and the lump under the nail bed like yours, it happened to me too,” She said. He pulled back looking at her. “And Michelle came to visit me. But that went fine. No hunger or anything, I was in control. But she told me more about the Larougo madness, the venom causes it, right?” She asked.
“Yeah, it’s a toxin, it affects the brain. From what I can figure it’s like a neurotoxin that takes over the central nervous system. It causes hallucinations and affects speech and motor skills. If a Garkain becomes infected they’re usually spared the agony and culled.”
“As in killed?” Amelia asked.
“It’s preferable to enduring the effects of the toxin. Most Garkain beg for a merciful and quick end,” He said.
“Michelle said there’s a cure.”
He nodded again, “But only if you can find the Larougo who infected you, which is usually a problem.”
“Right, Michelle said that you don’t always remember things after you turn, and that being in your dingo form, it’s hard to tell who is who.”
“She’s right. But you don’t need to worry about it, being here with them. If you don’t turn like me, you won’t have to worry about doing it on accident. Is that what you wanted to ask?”
“Well, kind of, but also about this . . .” She said holding up her wrist for him to see.
“I don’t see anything.”
“No, you don’t because it healed. When it was daytime and the venom was in my nail, I slashed my wrist.”
“You what?!” He said a little too loudly. Amelia could hear immediate quiet in the next room. She put her finger to her lips, then gestured outside and to her ear.
They waited for a while to see if anyone might investigate. Thankfully no one did.
“You’re the scientist,” She said looking at him and keeping her voice low. “I just experimented. Look, when your father talked to me, about, well, about us. He said that if we were to. . . If we happened to have children,” She said blushing again. “He said that maybe they would have an immunity, which meant he thought that I might have an immunity once I Unbound. He was right.”
“You should’ve waited for me. That was not smart Amelia,” He said sternly.
Amelia shook her head, “I couldn’t because by the time you came back it would have been night, and I would only be Garkain again. No venom, no nails.” She flashed her hand for him to see.
“That was a risky thing to do,” He chided her again. “Any effects that you can tell?”
“No, none. Nothing,” She said smiling.
“I didn’t know you were so brave.”
“I have my moments,” She said proudly.
“And I have a suggestion. My own experiment,” He said.
“Okay, what’s up?”
“Try to influence me.”
“I can’t, you’re Larougo, Garkain can’t use their gifts on Larougo. And besides, I haven’t even practiced it yet. I don’t know how.”
“But you do have the gift, right? And it should be similar to your mother’s if I’m guessing right. Empathic influencing?” He asked.
“I mean, yes, I would say it would be. I feel waves of emotions from people. Like you, you’re happy and excited. Earlier when Michelle came to see me, I could read her very clearly. She was afraid of me,” Amelia said sadly.
“See? You shouldn’t be able to read me at all, but you can. Maybe you can influence me as well. It’s worth a shot, right?” He asked.
“I guess. What do you want me to influence you to do? And why do you trust me so much to let me go mucking around in your brain?”
“Because, if we’re going to go through with the agreement you made to my father, trust is the most important part of any relationship. I have to trust you. Besides, you’ve given me no reason to distrust you so far.”
“Okay, but if I get it wrong, don’t be mad at me,” She said.
“I promise. Okay, try and influence me to do something I wouldn’t normally do. Let me think. Running naked through the Colony would probably get us both in trouble,” He smiled.
“Probably, but then again you never know,” She said with an evil grin.
“Let’s not. How about, make me stand on my head, then do jumping jacks,” He said.
“Do you trust me?”
“When you say it like that, I don’t know if I do or not,” He said laughing. “But until you prove me wrong, yes. I trust you.”
“Okay, here goes nothing,” She said.
Amelia closed her eyes, concentrating. She’d only seen her mother do this a handful of times. And only received a few brief instructions on how to. Her mother had influenced her several times, and she knew what that felt like. Hopefully she would get lucky.
She’d need to feel her way through it, without any help. She remembered how it felt to her, how she felt the emotions being triggered and shifted.
She locked on to his emotions. A bit of uncertainty had made its way in with the excitement. She delved deeper, looking for a feeling about her. And there is was. She could tell it was there, but it was something he tried to push down below, and not think about. But it was there. Attraction.
She smiled and latched onto that emotion. Then, using her concentration, she influenced him that beyond everything else, what he felt like wanting to do, was kiss her. A polite kiss. She re-evaluated the image in her thoughts that she was giving him.
She eased out of his mind, and out of her own concentration, opening her eyes. “Roan?” She whispered.
He opened his eyes and leaned toward her, staring at her, as she braced. His lips brushed against hers as they both closed their eyes again. His hand stroked her face, and she wished she had influenced him to kiss her in the way she had thought of before.
He pulled back, blinking. “Did it work?” He asked while Amelia giggled to herself. “What’s so funny? What did you make me do?” But Amelia couldn’t control herself. As hard as she tried, the laughter wouldn’t stop.
“Okay, you didn’t make me run around the Colony naked. Did you?” He asked as a look of pure terror crossed his face.
“No, no. I wouldn’t do that,” Amelia told him, pulling herself together. “I made you . . . kiss me,” She said.
Now it was Roan's turn to burst out laughing. “You cheater! You went for something easy. I’ve wanted to do that since I first walked through the door earlier. I just hugged you. Didn’t want to push my luck. Did you like it?” He said giving her his dark eyes.
“Eh, you’re alright,” She said, both of them laughing.
“Yeah, okay,” He said, his ego slightly bruised. “Next time it’ll be better.”
“Next time?”
“Yeah, next time. You got to pick what kind of kiss it was. Next time I do,” He grinned. “But we did learn that it works,” He said, becoming a bit more serious.
“Yes, it worked. But when my mother first influenced me in the beginning, to stay calm, to not freak out. When she started telling me about all this. About the Colony, about Unbinding, I fought through it eventually. Or it started to fade. I don’t remember exactly, but it didn’t last past a day.”
“Okay, so the same would probably be true for any Larougo. You could influence them short term, but not anything that required an extended period of time, which is kind of a disappointment,” He said, thinking to himself.
“Why is that?” Amelia asked.
“Because I wanted you to try and influence me in the morning not to change.”
“Oh.”
“That would mean, no more wasted days. We wouldn’t have to live out here. We could live in the city, or wherever the hell we wanted. And I could be with you all the time. Not just at night,” He said.
“If you want, we can try it in the morning. We’ll do the same thing as this morning, going to the door. I’ll try to influence you and we’ll see what happens,” She said.
“And because tomorrow is your last day here, it’s the last time we’ll be able to try it. Do you know how frustrating it is to miss out on a normal life, day after day? I want to actually do things and experience life. If you could influence me, for long enough, I could even go back with you to the States. See what it’s like.” He reached out and grabbed her hands. “If that would be okay with you.
“Look, I know this whole agreement sounds crazy. And it probably is. I told you, I didn’t agree with it at first either. But then I met you. And I liked you, and now it doesn’t seem like a crazy idea at all. So, if we are going to do this. I want to give it our best shot. It’s not worth trying to bluff your way through spending eternity together if you don’t actually work to make it work.”
“I agree,” Amelia said.
“Okay, it’s a deal. And tomorrow morning, we’ll see how it goes.”
“We’ll see how it goes,” Amelia said reaching out her hand, and shaking on it.
She’d slept most of the day away, leaving her wired that night. It was hard to sleep. Especially thinking about the next morning. She wanted to sneak out of the room and go tell Michelle. But she thought better of it and passed the time the best she could.
Ambrose knocked on the door at some point waking them both. She went to the door, sliding the plywood over. “Is everything ok?” She asked.
“Oh yes,” He said clearing his throat. “Everything’s fine. I just wanted to see if you’d like some breakfast. It’s about an hour before sunrise, and I thought I could bring you both something.”
“That sounds good, thank you,” She said, as he quickly shuffled off. Another knock and she found a plate of actual food, for Roan, she guessed. And three full bags of blood for her.
She felt her mouth begin to burn, the teeth breaking through the skin with the taste of her own blood. She finished the first bag immediately, still kneeling by the door, then carried the plate and the other two bags to the cots. She handed Roan his plate first, then sat on her cot to finish her breakfast.
“Do you mind?” Roan asked. “I mean, could I take another look?”
Amelia stopped mid drink. “At what? My teeth?” She said immediately embarrassed. “I guess,” She said opening wide.
Roan took his time looking this way and that. “Amazing, you are truly unique.”
“Good or bad unique?” She asked.
“Good, definitely good,” He smiled. Putting her at ease. She couldn’t explain how the connection formed so quickly. Maybe being stuck in the same room together had something to do with it. But there was something else too. A natural attraction she would have felt without any gift. Although the gift helped too.
“Well, when you’re done, I’m ready if you are,” He said, still sitting, waiting patiently for her to finish the last bag.
“All done,” She said, tossing the empty bag on the cot with the others.
“Then let’s see what happens,” He said standing and reaching for her hand, pulling her to her feet.
They eased out of the room, keenly aware of the same stares as yesterday. She also noticed that there were fewer people in the main hall this morning. Maybe some had already left early. They all arrived together, but maybe they left at different times.
Starting down the corridor again, she was getting nervous. Influencing someone to give you a light kiss was one thing. But, trying to keep them from shifting, was quite another. She didn’t want to fail him in something so important.
At the door, she looked back listening for Ambrose or anyone who might have followed them, but she heard nothing. They were alone. She had proved she could handle Roan with his transition yesterday, and she assumed that was good enough for Ambrose.
“I’m ready,” He said, staring deep into her eyes and then closing them.
She used the same process, sensing her way through his mind. If she could find a feeling of having to turn or needing to turn, maybe she could influence that. She probed as deep as she could, past feelings that made her sad, feelings that made her happy, and feelings that made her angry.
Something this base, this instinctual would be deep. Very deep.
At last, she found something, possibly something that she could work with. A feeling of duty, of accepting the change as part of who he was. She reached out, carefully sifting through the other feelings to isolate just this one.
Modifying this feeling was not an easy task, each way she pushed or pulled, it sprang back into form. She had to think quickly, the sun was nearly up. She tried one final thing, giving him the feeling that she would be sad if he turned, that she didn’t want to spend the days without him. It was an honest feeling, and that was the one that seemed to stick.
She pulled back out of his mind, careful to leave the other feelings in place as she slowly pulled herself up through his consciousness and back out again. She opened her eyes, seeing his still closed.
“Roan?” She said, reaching out to brush the hair from his eyes. He was sweating, but his eyes didn’t open. She waited for a few minutes before speaking again. “Roan, come on, please wake up,” She begged, wondering how long she’d spent trying to find that feeling.
Finally, his eyes opened as he shook himself awake, out of the trance-like state. “Are you okay? I had to go deep, really deep. I was afraid you weren’t going to come out of it,” She said, reaching out and hugging him. “Are you okay? Roan, say something,” She demanded.
“I will if you let me get a word in,” He said smiling. “I feel fine, a little bit of a headache, which I haven’t had since I first transitioned. So, whatever you did had some effect.”
He moved past her and up the stairs, reaching for the handle to the door. With a twist of the knob, he pushed his way through, holding it up for Amelia to walk out with him. He gently closed the door after them, looking off in the direction of the glow in the East.
“We’ll know in about five minutes, I can feel the sun, I always feel it when it’s close,” He said sitting on the ground and taking her hand. She leaned into him as they sat and watched the sun break over the horizon. Both remaining themselves, Roan still in his human form.
“Thank you,” He said as emotions of relief and joy radiated from inside him.
He brushed her hair from her face, causing her to turn as she squinted against the growing light. And this time he didn’t kiss her gently.