by Clay, Verna
Roth saw Johnson adjust the rearview mirror, watching their verbal battle. Although Johnson’s eyes smiled, his professionalism didn't allow his mouth to join in. Johnson put the car in gear and started down the drive. When Rainey attempted to scoot closer to her window, her briefcase fell on the floor. Roth bent to retrieve it, and so did she. They bumped shoulders. As if jolted by electricity, she jumped back and sputtered, yanking the briefcase from his hands. Placing it back on her lap, she opened it and thumbed through its contents, pulling out documents.
Once past the guard-station at the entrance to the mansion, Johnson drove them through rural countryside to the Childress Enterprises complex located on the outskirts of Portland. It took thirty minutes to reach the private entrance and the guards waved him through. Rainey opened her briefcase again and began stashing the papers back inside.
"Do you always read upside down, Ms. Childress?"
"What?"
Roth nodded toward the papers. "They’re upside down." With a mortified look, she squashed the pages into her briefcase and fumbled with the clasp. As soon as the vehicle stopped in front of the building housing the laboratories, she opened her door and made haste toward the entrance. Johnson, who had stepped out of the car, watched her retreating form, and then looked at Roth and winked. Roth suppressed a smile, nodded to the highly trained chauffeur/bodyguard, and followed his ward.
Roth sighed. So far, this assignment was turning into one of his worst. The Thirteen co-Princes must have had good reason for sending him here, but he hoped the mission would be a short one—even though the morning had proven to be quite entertaining.
He followed Rainey to the check-in station just inside the entrance. Having already been introduced to the guards and instructed in procedures, he quickly received clearance. He entered an elevator with Rainey and rode to the eleventh, and top floor. She kept her back to him.
When the elevator braked, he followed her to the only door in the hallway. After passing her keycard over a sensor, the door clicked open. He entered behind her and the door clicked shut. The hair on Roth’s arms electrified and his sixth sense kicked in. Another shapeling was near. He stayed close behind Rainey, searching the lab with his eyes. She entered a small interior office and dropped her briefcase on a desk. She then stepped behind the desk and opened a lower drawer, stashing her purse. Roth stood in the doorway viewing every inch of her office. Satisfied, he turned and again scanned the lab. Three long tables stretching almost a third of the length of the large rectangular room were crowded with lab paraphernalia: vials, ceramic containers, microscopes, audio speakers, headphones, state-of-the-art equipment, books and charts.
He looked toward the bank of windows on the eastern wall and spotted a female shapeling watching him. Recognition lit her countenance.
Behind him, Rainey said, "Excuse me, Mr. Beowolf; I have work to do and you’re blocking the exit from my office."
Roth stepped outside the doorway to allow her to pass through. He glanced back toward the shapeling now approaching them. Rainey walked to the farthest table. The other shapeling veered toward her. Roth followed his charge. At the lab table, Rainey picked up a binder and flipped through it.
"Good morning, Rainey," the female shapeling greeted.
"Good morning, Fawn. Were you able to catalogue yesterday’s experiment?"
"Yes. It wasn’t much different from the day before."
"Damn. I was hoping the added frequency would help."
"Hello, I’m Roth Beowolf." Roth interrupted.
"Oh, did I forget to introduce you? I’m sorry." Rainey glanced at him, an innocent half-smile gracing her lips.
Roth wasn’t fooled. The little witch was getting back at him for his intrusion into her backseat privacy. He didn’t have time for games right now. He wanted to know what another shapeling was doing there. The Thirteen co-Princes had said nothing about a double assignment. Not that he was complaining. He remembered Fawn well. They had even mated once as wolves.
"My name is Fawn Woods. It’s a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Beowolf."
Roth heard the slight inflection of familiarity she gave his last name. He glanced at Rainey to see if she was aware of it. He didn’t see anything in her expression indicating she was.
"If you call me Roth, I’ll call you Fawn. Deal?"
"Deal."
"Why don’t you two go somewhere and chit-chat while I test my equipment?" Rainey interrupted.
Roth knew they were getting a brush-off, but it would give him time to speak with Fawn alone.
"I’ll just get my notes," Fawn said.
Roth followed her to a desk near the bank of windows overlooking the International Headquarters of Childress Enterprises. He turned his back to Rainey and lowered his voice. "Is anyone else in the lab?"
"No. Mr. Brenner—Steve Brenner—called and said he wouldn’t be in until ten. He’s the other scientist. His assistant, Jim Mathewson, is out sick."
"I suppose you know my next question. What are you doing here? The co-Princes didn’t say anything about another shapeling on this mission…not that I mind," he added seductively.
"They didn’t tell me about you either. I was sent to protect the lab. I’ve been here about three months—never had any problems."
"Meet me tonight in the woods outside the Childress Mansion."
"You remember what happened the last time we were wolves in the woods, don’t you?"
"No, what?" Roth asked innocently.
"Don’t pretend with me, Roth Beowolf. Shapelings never forget things like that." Fawn chuckled.
Roth suppressed a loud laugh. He turned and walked back toward Rainey.
* * *
"Did you have a nice chat; get to know each other? Did you interrogate her to find out if she’s a 'bad girl'?" The moment Rainey said the words, she regretted them. Not only did the words sound petty, they had another connotation. Fawn was a talented and beautiful woman and didn’t deserve Rainey’s foul mouth.
Roth didn’t reply.
Rainey choked on her next words. "I’m sorry. Forget I said that. Fawn is a very nice person."
"You’re forgiven." Roth said, and grinned.
Rainey choked again, but this time it was in anger. Of all the condescending things to say, that was the worst.
Chapter 2: Forest Lesson
Roth stepped onto his balcony, relieved that his first day with Rainey had ended. Tonight the clouds lay thick and dark, mysterious. He looked forward to meeting Fawn beyond the grounds of the estate. They had not spoken alone the rest of the day, and he was anxious to learn more about her assignment. He bowed his head and spoke the prayer that would shift him into an eagle.
Seconds later he soared high, his feathers making him impervious to the frigid night. Circling the heavens above the Childress mansion, his keen vision honed in on Rainey’s second story bedroom window. As if on cue, she thrust aside the drapes and stood peering into the night, the lamplight in her bedroom silhouetting her voluptuous body. Roth caught a downdraft and circled lower. She looked upward, as if she knew he was there, but he was unsure whether she could see him. Her unbound hair fell in waves to her shoulders.
Ignoring the urge to swoop past her window for a closer look, Roth shifted direction and rode the current toward the forest. In a matter of minutes, he flew over the tops of tall pines and magnificent oaks. Spotting a perch, he dove and landed gently on the outstretched arm of an ancient oak. Folding his wings, he waited.
A wolf howled in the distance, calling to him. Diving to earth, he said the Prayer of Secrecy. When he landed, it was not with talons, but with the paws of a wolf. Without pause, he streaked toward the howling of a female shapeling. Raising his head toward the moon, he answered the howl. Running and dodging all manner of forest obstacles, he pushed himself harder and faster. The wind rushed through his sleek coat, exciting him. He smelled Fawn’s scent.
Abruptly, he slowed to a trot. Then he stopped and waited. Within seconds, another wolf appeared b
eyond a fallen log in front of him. They appraised each other. Fawn, as a wolf, was beautiful, as he had known she would be. When he lowered his head to pray, she lowered hers in like manner.
"Why did you shift back into a human, Roth?"
"I need more information about your mission."
"We could have spoken about our missions after we-"
Roth interrupted. "I cannot mate with you. My sole focus must be on accomplishing this assignment. It's my final one before entry into the ranks of Shapeling Master, and you…are very distracting."
Fawn lifted her head and laughed. The moon, briefly free of its cage of clouds, glinted off ebony tendrils of her hair. "All the more reason for me to entice you. Do you remember that time in Ember Canyon beside the rapids?"
"Fawn, you’re making this very difficult."
"I am happy that is so."
"However, I will not change my mind."
She sighed. "Very well, I also remember your stubbornness. However, it has brought you to the threshold of Mastery. What is it you want to know?"
"Why have the co-Princes sent you here?"
"My mission is to protect the Childress Enterprises Laboratory that Rainey is in charge of."
"Why is that?"
"She's on the verge of a momentous discovery. As I said this afternoon, I've been working at the lab for about three months. When I first arrived, Rainey and Steve Brenner were excited about a breakthrough in frequency testing. They've been working with frequencies for years."
"Go on."
"As you know, human history can be quite convoluted. I’ll try to explain. Have you heard of a Chladni plate?"
"No."
"I had to do some quick study for this assignment to keep Rainey and Steve believing I'm what my credentials purport—a lab assistant who's worked in multiple disciplines. Anyway, here’s a short history lesson. Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni wrote a book called Discoveries in the Theory of Sound in 1787. He invented a technique to show a visual effect of frequencies on matter. By placing sand on a metal plate and drawing a violin bow over a piece of the metallic surface, he discovered the sand would shift into patterns corresponding to particular vibrations. Since then, the technique has been vastly improved and the violin bow replaced by tone generators. The sand has also been replaced by a lightweight powder called lycopodium, which is actually the spores of a genus of plants called clubmosses."
"So Rainey and Mr. Brenner are experimenting with frequencies?"
"Yes."
"Have they achieved anything significant?"
"Yes and no. Before I arrived, they had dialed in some frequencies, but not executed them. Steve’s assistant, Jim, arrived at the lab the next morning and accidentally bumped the control switch. What he saw astounded him, and he shouted for Rainey and Steve to come look. By the time they arrived, they only saw a glimpse of what Jim had seen."
"You’ve got me hooked. What did they see?"
"I hope you’re ready for this. For an instant on the Chladni Plate, they saw the formation of a three-dimensional human person sculpted by the lycopodium. They saw Rainey."
"What!"
"Let me explain: Going back to our history lesson, Dr. Hans Jenny, who was born in the early 1900s, carried on the work of Chladni. In 1967, he published the first volume of Cymatics: The Study of Wave Phenomena. His second volume was published the year he died, 1972. What Dr. Jenny discovered was that low tones produced simplistic patterns, while higher tones produced more complex patterns. Dr. Jenny and a British scientist named Sir Peter Guy Manners experimented and created an instrument called the Cymatic Instrument for the purpose of projecting sounds into the body for healing. It seems that when certain frequencies are combined, they produce three-dimensional formations. However, they discovered that there must be a combination of at least five or more frequencies to recreate three-dimensional shapes. And for body organs the number of required frequencies is enormous."
"I think I understand where you’re going. If a human body is ailing and the specific organ of ailment is identified, then there is the possibility that certain combined frequencies could restore that organ?"
"Exactly, the combined frequencies create the form. If, for example, a liver is failing, and the frequency of a healthy liver could be determined and applied to the sufferer, then the ailing liver would eventually resonate to the frequency of a healthy liver, thus changing the diseased liver into a healthy one."
"That would certainly benefit the human race. But that’s a far cry from what you described of a likeness of Rainey being generated."
"I know. It seems that when Jim bumped the tone generator switch, the memory function had not been activated. Whatever tones were generated, were lost. Of course, the pressing question is: How was a three-dimensional version of Rainey accomplished?"
"Yes, how was it done?"
"After Rainey, Steve, and Jim went over and over the details of everything up until the moment the switch was turned on, they came to the conclusion that Rainey’s DNA must have been on the Chladni plate. The previous day she had been working extensively with the equipment to repair a malfunction. While doing so, she scraped her hand and it bled onto the plate. She wiped the blood up with a cloth and didn't think anything about it.
"When the frequencies sounded, they must have been the perfect combination to mold the likeness of a human body according to the DNA on the plate. Since that time, although they have successfully created three-dimensional shapes of several organs, they have been unsuccessful in recreating anything close to a replicated version of a human body. They’re very frustrated."
Roth chuckled. "I knew Rainey was frustrated the first time I laid eyes on her. I wanted to curse the co-Princes for sending me here. I had hoped my transitional assignment would have been as a cheetah. I have never had an assignment as a cheetah."
"I had hoped for an assignment as a dolphin."
"Fawn, we could stand here all night hoping, but it won’t change anything. The sun will crest soon. We need to sleep for a few hours. Let’s meet again. When it's time, I’ll signal you at the lab with the shapeling ensign." Roth placed three fingers over his heart.
"Okay. Are you sure you’re not in the mood for some wolf-play?"
"Another time, Fawn." Roth bowed his head and shifted, catching the wind in his feathers and streaking upward.
Chapter 3: Encounter
Roth bent and entered the Lexus SUV. He suppressed a grin. Everyday for the past month Rainey had glared daggers at him when he'd settled in next to her. Today, she was in a particularly bitchy mood.
"I thought today was your day off?"
"Are you keeping track of my days off because you’ll miss me?"
Rainey snorted. "That would be a cold day in hell."
Roth closed the car door and motioned for Johnson to drive. Settling back into the luxurious upholstery, he ignored her barb. He had to admit though, she kept him entertained. For being such a braniac, she almost had a dockworker’s mouth. Roth smiled.
"What’s so funny?"
"I was just thinking what a contrast your brains are to your dockworker’s mouth."
Johnson choked.
Rainey's eyes grew round and her response was certainly colorful.
Roth looked at her and smiled again. "Case-in-point."
* * *
Rainey decided her best line of defense with Roth was to ignore him. Their verbal sparring during the drive to the lab had angered her to the point she couldn’t think straight. She'd made so many errors in calculations that her coworkers were asking if she was feeling okay.
She stepped away from the Chladni plate and walked to the bank of windows overlooking Childress Enterprises. I think I'm the victim of too much work and too little play. A dove flying past the window captured her attention and brought images of the magnificent eagle to mind. Almost nightly, she found herself watching for the large bird from either her bedroom window or standing on her balcony. In the past month, she had seen it may
be a dozen times. Whenever she saw the eagle, a strange excitement overwhelmed her. Even now, thinking about the bird, sent a shiver through her.
"Are you cold?"
Rainey turned to see Roth standing near, his presence unnerving.
"No. I…I… Forget it. I need to get back to work." She rushed toward the lab.
The rest of the day turned into a worse disaster and ended with her spilling coffee down her lab coat. She was angrier on the drive home than she had been on the drive to work that morning. So angry, in fact, that she refused to eat dinner with her father by complaining of a headache—which was the truth.
Rainey stood at her window long past midnight hoping to see the eagle. Making a spur-of-the-moment decision, she walked to her nightstand and retrieved a key and flashlight from the drawer. Slipping into a pair of Levis, a long-sleeved pull-over sweater, and tennis shoes, she silently opened the French doors onto her balcony and did something she had not done since her teenage years. Hoisting herself over the ornate railing and finding a foothold on the ledge connecting her balcony to the balcony of the empty bedroom next door, she grabbed the rope-like vines clinging to the house and slowly edged across. The guard posted outside her bedroom prevented any other way of escape.
Reaching the other balcony and climbing over the railing, she congratulated herself. Not bad. Looks like you've still got it in you. Pulling the master key for the bedrooms from her pocket, she fumbled in her excitement. It took three tries to successfully unlock the French doors. Sneaking inside the room, she went to the Jack-and-Jill bathroom and exited into the next bedroom. From there, she avoided the door opening into the same hallway where her guard was posted. Instead, she opened another door into a hallway perpendicular to that one.
Within minutes she'd fled down the servants’ staircase and into the kitchen. On the far side of the kitchen, she opened the cellar door. Beth McGovern, their superstitious cook, hated the cellar and refused to enter it. She swore it was haunted. Rainey smiled, remembering how she'd enhanced the cook's fears with stories of ghosts and apparitions.
