Olivia didn’t answer right away.
She looked down in her lap where he still held one of her hands, and then over at the brace he had made a show of. She seemed to consider the demonstration for a moment. Then she raised her gaze and surprised him with a look of cool amusement on her face.
“Mr. Sellars,” she spoke in a mocking version of her normal formality, “you are becoming quite the smooth talker. But I should probably also warn you that in my culture we are not given to long courtships, and you are flirting dangerously close to making a commitment.”
“Really?” He leaned in and kissed her before fixing her with a level gaze of his own. “I thought I had just made one. Of course, now the decision is yours.”
Olivia froze and regarded him with raised eyebrows. She studied him for a long moment, as if gauging his seriousness. Then words seemed to momentarily fail her. She started to speak, paused, then swallowed hard before putting a hand to her throat and taking a deep breath.
Adam held his breath along with her.
“Oh my,” she finally exhaled, “I think this time Uncle Antonio really is going to have a kitten.”
###
“Oof! Okay girl, we’re there. Break time. I’d say we’ve got an hour before the rain comes in so let’s make the most of it.”
Billy laid his hand on the top of the fencepost, and waited for Sunspinner to leave her position on his back and clamber onto the fence. With a companion of her size, letting her ride like a big self-attaching backpack was the most efficient solution when taking walks of any length. Besides, it only reinforced the intimacy of their spiritual bond. On the other hand, being so soon after one of Grandma Lilah’s ministrations, meant she seemed to have doubled in weight so it was a bit of a relief to let her down.
The big spider wasted no time in going to her preferred place at the corner of the pasture fence and angling herself to get the full benefit of the late afternoon sun. With a twenty-six inch leg span, she was the largest companion in the tribe outside the giants belonging to Maggie and Grandma Lilah. Her glossy black and yellow form would have been a cause of horrified alarm to anybody outside the limited population who understood her for what she was. Billy himself would have greeted such horror with contemptuous amusement.
Like most of her species, she looked far more hostile than she truly was. Furthermore, like most companions, she shared many of the personality traits of her human counterpart.
Therefore Sunspinner was generally passive, only presenting a threat to the rabbits or birds she directly identified as prey. Outside of that, her idea of action pretty much amounted to her current activity…finding the perfect sunbeam while communing with her human companion as he meditated.
A year and a half earlier, Billy had discovered a book on meditation while following a cute redhead through a second-hand bookshop in Hallisboro. He had grabbed it blindly and used it for camouflage as he peeked over its top to enjoy the view. Then, he had been forced to purchase it when he forgot to put it down before trying to leave the store.
To his surprise, the subject fascinated him and he turned out to be a natural at it. He was quite capable of doing several of the feats ascribed to gurus and holy men in the book, although he considered those mere sideshow stunts. The important thing to him was the state of tranquility he achieved when meditating…the oneness with the world. He had even loaned the book to Maggie a few months back in hopes she might learn not to be quite so intense. Sadly, events had taken her path in a different direction.
Now he emptied his mind and let the tiny thought fragments of the myriad field creatures around him enter his being. This he shared with Sunspinner who, having recently fed, contented herself with following his serene acceptance of existence and the flow of life around them. The pair of them contemplated nothing in particular.
Things were alright.
Later in the year, once it became warmer, the two of them would be able to do this for a day or two at a stretch. If they could find the time. Even in the unique culture of the Spider Tribe, teenagers found themselves caught up in the eternal campaign to escape chores. But at the moment most of the adults were at the Weyrich store, seeing off Chief Hitch and the rest of the party who would meet with the Dog People tonight, which had allowed him to sneak out of the house for some badly needed sun-time.
So he and Sunspinner hung in a thoughtless suspension of linked minds, enjoying their freedom and letting awareness be their substitute for reason. And it was while he floated in the ocean of sparks representing the tiny minds of the life around him that Billy noticed the anomaly. A void with blurred edges moving silently through the living stars behind him.
He wasn’t alone.
Once again, the spiritual power it took to pull off such a feat amazed him. Not only were her thoughts shielded, she radiated nothing to indicate her presence at all. Had he been doing anything else, he would have never noticed her. She was blocked in so tight she was an absence.
“Maggie,” he murmured without looking back, “let me tell the Elders how I interfered with Molly. I probably won’t get into trouble, and there is at least a little chance they might change their minds.”
The void paused in the living star field behind him, and he could feel her eyes boring into his back.
“You have to bend a little,” he continued. “Then maybe they will have room to bend too. Think about it. Right now what your plan really amounts to is trying to beat them with their own rules.”
No answer. He felt the void move up to the post behind him and hesitate.
“Maggie, I’ve got your back on this…but I still want you to think about it for a while. You need to talk to somebody about this. Somebody older and smarter than me.”
The silence behind him seemed to take on an amused tinge.
“Yeah, I know. That was stupid. You can’t talk to anybody. Well, you could if you wanted to. Hell, I’m talking to you right now, but you’re being as stubborn about this as the Elders.”
The silence lost its amused tinge.
“Throw me a line here, Maggie. You know you can trust me. Just let me talk to my Dad. He’ll listen to me, and Hitch will listen to him.”
He realized as he finished his sentence she was gone.
Crap.
Billy turned around to see he sat alone in the pasture, without even the tree branches on the other side of the fence waving to show somebody had passed through. But the slip of paper inserted in a crack at the top of the fencepost stood out like a flag. Not only because of the bright white against the natural setting, but also due to the smears of blood which stained its corners.
“What the hell?” he muttered as he snatched the paper free. “Why are you still bleeding?”
He scanned the contents of the paper, his alarm growing by the second.
The note itself frightened him as much as what it instructed him to do. This was bad. Very bad. And now he was going to have to figure out what to do…because time had just run out.
But what could he do? He couldn’t even admit to having this tiny amount of contact with her.
He had a brief thought of secretly leaving the note where it would be found, but realized she had put his name in the letter. Besides, the people with the best chance of dealing with her were all heading out to Hallisboro to meet the Dog People. And given their current relationship with her, he wasn’t a hundred percent sure they would try and stop her anyway.
Which was stupid as hell considering they still needed her to solve their current rogue problem. Nobody else had the spiritual power to mask themselves in order to get close enough to engage it until help could arrive. Hell, nobody else would probably survive the attempt if they did.
But apparently none of it mattered anymore. Everybody was sticking by their laws, their honor, and their pride…and nobody was looking at where it was heading. Or if they were, they just didn’t care.
Billy realized then that even if he could secretly alert the Elders to what Maggie planned, it
probably wouldn’t change anything. Hell, it would probably cost her what little help he could provide. Besides, he had promised Maggie he wouldn’t do that.
So it was all down to him, and what he was willing to do.
“Goddammit,” he grumbled. “No kid is worth this.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
DEALS IN THE DARK
Olivia pulled the station wagon in behind the two vans and turned off the headlights.
“Okay,” she spoke softly, but in an urgent voice, “we’re here. Now remember, the old man is named Cesar, and he is an extremely important person. Do not approach him, speak to him, or interact with him in any way unless he approaches you and initiates it. If he does, be unfailingly polite and respectful.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Adam,” she warned, “this is important. Also, he will have a man about your age with him. His name is Aurelio. Suffice it to say Aurelio and I aren’t each other’s favorite person.”
“Got it. Aurelio is a jerk.”
“Yes.” She gave him a dark look. “He is a jerk. But he’s a jerk who is Cesar’s grandson, has the bloodlines to be chieftain, and therefore wields influence. He’s also trained in various forms of combat, so don’t let him draw you into a confrontation of any kind. He’s dangerous. He hasn’t been blooded on a raid yet, but this only makes him more likely to feel the need to prove something. The fact you are with me is not going to endear you to him. I don’t think he will be a problem tonight, but if he is…you leave him to me or Antonio.”
“Understood. Beware of Aurelio.”
“Please. Do exactly that.”
“Right.” Adam leaned forward and watched as two dark figures emerged from the van in front of them. “Looks like Antonio didn’t come alone. It’s so dark here under these trees, it’s hard to make out the other guy. Oh waitaminute, he’s signing with his hands, so…”
“Ah! He brought Cristobal with him. Excellent. If I get tied up and too busy, you can stay with him.”
“Lovely. Nothing against Cristobal, but I barely know him.”
“I know. I’m sorry, Adam, but I am my Uncle’s second. In my case that roughly translates into a cross between personal assistant and second in command. I have a job to do tonight, but I will try to look out for you as much as I can.”
“I know.” Adam shriveled in realization at how selfish he had just been. “I’m the one who should be sorry. I’ll be fine. I’ll just get Tucker then go stand at the edge of things or something.”
“I doubt Tucker will be here, tonight.”
“What? But the whole point…”
“Adam, the whole point tonight is to resolve things and come to an agreement. They would be no more likely to bring a child into a situation capable of turning nasty than we would.”
“Oh, right,” he groaned, now feeling foolish about not seeing the obvious in addition to his previous bout of selfishness. “Fear not. Adam is having a slow start tonight, but he will get with the program any second now. I’ll be unobtrusive and make damn sure to not embarrass you.”
“You’ll be fine,” she assured him. “And remember, you are now using the same psi-blockers I’m using, so nobody should be reading your mind tonight.”
“That’s a relief.”
He rubbed his arm where she had inserted the three tiny rods under his skin. She had gotten the idea from a form of birth control medication, and had been using this trip as a test for a psi blocker operating on the same principle. The rods would dissolve slowly under the skin, giving him a steady supply of psi blocker for the next two months. Even better, this new and refined formulation should hopefully come without the headaches.
It had been the second gift she had given him today. The first remained hidden under his sleeve as well.
“And now,” she asserted as she opened her door, “it is time to proceed with the matters at hand.”
Adam watched with amused affection as she slid into the hyper-efficient persona the rest of the world knew her by. He exited his side of the car, and joined her in front of the vehicle.
The warm day had descended into a cool and damp evening, as late afternoon showers so common this time of year had moved in. Now the trees dripped with moisture, filling the otherwise quiet darkness with the uneven patter of water drops falling on a carpet of wet leaves.
He followed alongside Olivia as they moved up the damp street to join the knot of people at the front of the first van. Adam remembered his role in this group was to merely shut up and keep his eyes and ears open, so he concentrated on doing precisely that. Besides, he wasn’t sure he wanted too much of the Chieftain’s attention right now anyway.
He recognized Antonio and Cristobal immediately, with the smaller man standing to the left and slightly behind…a position Adam remembered Olivia occupying. He wondered if it implied some displeasure with Olivia on Antonio’s part, or if it really meant anything at all. If it did, there was no way for him to tell because Olivia was now in full business mode and completely unreadable.
“Sir, Cristobal,” she acknowledged the pair before turning to the old man and inclining her head. “Elder.”
The man he knew must be Cesar wore a plain gray woolen poncho of some kind over what appeared to be normal office clothes. While stooped with age, Adam could tell he must have once been tall like Antonio. He vaguely remembered reading the Karankawa had been unusually tall as a people…a memory supported by the presence of the even taller man behind the Elder.
The man in the dark suit had more hawkish features than Antonio, and a slightly leaner frame, but it was obvious he was athletically built as well. Aurelio had his long hair tied back with a leather cord, exposing a face carved out of hard mahogany. His eyes were deep and almost black. And at the moment those eyes looked at Olivia with a sneer that started to make Adam’s blood do a slow boil.
Nope. Be smart, he reminded himself. She already warned you about this guy. Follow her lead on this.
Olivia didn’t even appear to notice the man, instead focusing on delivering a last minute report to the others.
“A final point before we go in, sirs,” she addressed the chief and Elder. “They may choose to hold the bulk of this meeting in our own language, which I can now confirm they speak. But even though I only had a small sample, I can definitely tell they speak a more antiquated version than we do. Think the English equivalent of “You are” being replaced by “Thou art.” It’s not quite that dramatic, but I advise paying close attention while being wary of the risk of misunderstanding. They don’t appear to use hand gestures when speaking our language like we do either. It’s probably a result of them being telepaths and expressing their emphasis in other ways. Also, we have adopted a great deal more Spanish into our language than they have, so that may be an issue as well.”
“Understood. Anything else?”
“No, sir. I believe I covered everything else in yesterday’s report.”
“Then let’s head out.”
Antonio turned and walked directly into the trees with Cristobal beside him. Olivia motioned for Adam to wait, and nodded for Cesar and Aurelio to precede them. They did so without comment, although Aurelio managed to deliver another scathing look at first Olivia, then a contemptuous glance at Adam himself.
Yeah, keep sneering pal….but you know what? I’m the one walking along with the gorgeous babe and you’re the one toodling along behind grandpa, so I’m just all broken up inside over your disdain.
Fortified by this happy thought, he joined Olivia in following the others into the woods.
As it turned out, it was fortunate they were in the rear because moving through the trees in the darkness turned out to be another activity he was far from ready for. Although he had improved tremendously over the past three days, his sense of balance still didn’t qualify as normal. One of the effects of the partial paralysis of his feet was an inability to be able to tell exactly where they were placed in the dark, which made walking through the uneven terrain in
the near blackness a real adventure. He had to ruefully admit to himself that even the old man was doing a better job of it than him. It turned out to be a good thing he hadn’t let his growing confidence lull him into leaving his cane in the car, because it saved him at least three times from hitting the dirt. The grip Olivia had on his arm was supportive in more ways than one.
So despite the fact he hardly looked forward to this one last meeting with his former nemesis, he felt a sense of profound relief when they emerged from the stygian woods and into the clearing where the Spider People waited.
There were four of them.
And all four had their spiders with them.
Three middle-aged men stood in a row at the opposite tree line, facing the emerging group, while Grandma Lilah sat on the nearby bench. Each of the three men stood next to a web featuring a very large spider in it. They ranged in size from about sixteen to twenty inches. The four-foot monster belonging to Grandma Lilah hung in a web directly over and behind her. There was something almost ceremonial about the display. They watched the newcomers enter the area without comment.
Antonio led them to the middle of the clearing, then stopped and waited. Their group stood facing the three men, with Grandma Lilah’s bench off at a slight angle. Looming over the whole affair, the giant vine and branch sculpture of the spider seemed almost alive in the park light. Nobody moved or said anything. They just surveyed each other, up and down, and took their time about it. This went on so long Adam had to fight the urge to fidget.
Then the man in the center, who Adam recognized as the cashier at the gas station in Weyrich, stepped forward. The way he and Antonio regarded each other suggested this man to be in some position of authority, perhaps their equivalent to the Chieftain.
He uttered a short sentence in a language Adam now assumed to be Karankawan.
Despite his appearance as a typical rural Texan, Adam could now see the Native American heritage in this man’s face as well. It showed in his eyes and cheekbones and, like Antonio’s people, he and his male companions were all six foot or taller. Adam was beginning to feel decidedly short in this crowd and actually felt thankful Cristobal, who was about his height, had attended this gathering.
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