“Aww,” Roster said, dodging, “it looks like you’re clean. Not even one nibble? You must taste really bad, dude.”
“I doubt that,” Monique muttered.
I had to be honest with myself. This situation was rapidly spiraling into an utter disaster. I had no friggin’ clue what to do, and I had a very bad feeling that my reputation was going to be a bit too colorful for my tastes, but as I tensed for another try, I did a double-take. The towel in Roster’s hand had simply vanished.
“What the hell?” I muttered.
“Damn it, Dante.” Roster moaned. “Why you gotta ruin the fun?”
With a pop, Dante appeared right in front of me with my towel in his hand.
I mumbled my thanks. So that’s what Dante meant by ‘shrouding’…cool.
Dante shrugged and walked back to our room.
“Seriously, Roster. You are so immature,” Monique lectured.
“Oh, come on, shug. It was just a little fun. Besides, I needed to make sure our newest member wasn’t going to turn into an infected, blood-sucking, maniac while we slept. It was a public service.”
Maria giggled.
“Damn it!” I snapped. “Shut the fuck up.”
Everyone froze.
Monique covered her mouth in shock, but I wasn’t even close to done.
I glared at Roster. “Rei saved my life, asshole. She got her face kicked in for me. She got a collapsed lung because of me. She got fucking electrocuted because of me. Despite all that, she spotted me for a new goddamn train ticket. She even bought me a cup of coffee and a Danish…and…” I gasped for some air. “…and it was three…it was three, not five.”
They were all staring back at me in shock, but I was having none of it. I had spent my day in a battle royale. Them? Molding Play-Doh. Fuck them. Frustrated beyond belief, I brushed passed Monique and headed back to my room.
“Dieter,” Monique asked, her voice uncertain, “what do you mean by three, not five?”
“I mean three people. Rei didn’t kill five people. She only killed three. If you’re gonna be assholes about it, at least get your numbers right.” I thought back to the report Rei gave Albright. “One Tier 2 magus and two, uh, minor trolls.” Minor trolls…I felt ridiculous saying it. “Just don’t ask me what the hell any of that means. I have no freaking idea.” I continued to my new room and threw on pair of shorts and a shirt. I had had enough. I was going to sleep. I wanted to talk to Rei tomorrow morn—evening and ask if that cabin of hers had an extra room. The moderate risk of nocturnal blood loss sounded way better than dealing with these jerks.
Finished dressing, I turned around to find the whole group of them huddled in the hallway.
I turned even redder.
“Can’t you people let me change without staring at my ass?”
“Dieter, did you just say two minor trolls?” Dante asked.
“Yea,” I said, throwing off my bed’s comforter. It was bedtime.
“Everyone, common room, now.” Monique ordered. “Maria, recall our people.”
“Trato hecho!” Maria said as she sped up to the stairs to the loft.
Fifteen minutes later the rest had all shown up. I recognized Ichijo Fukimura and Sheila Mordred from the quad. There were two new additions: a stodgy looking blond wearing wire rimmed glasses, and an elfish girl with spiked purple-black hair and giant knee-high boots. Jules Nelson and Sadie Thompson, I presumed. Eight in all.
Monique asked Maria where Rei was.
“You said recall our people.”
“Maria, ya fockin’ thicko,” Jules said, pushing back her glasses. “Can’t ya follow a simple instruction? A recall means everyone, ya dimwit.”
Sadie giggled and blew a giant pink bubble. She cracked the gum with her teeth.
Maria was about to respond when Monique slammed her foot down. “Stop it,” she hissed. “This is serious.” Tendrils of energy coursed off of her. I wanted to do nothing more than crawl under the couch and hide.
Monique turned to me, and I swallowed.
“Dieter?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“I want you to tell us everything that happened, please.”
I regurgitated the censored version that Rei had told to Dean Albright. They asked the occasional question but generally just sat still and listened. By the end of my tale, Roster was staring at the wall, clenching and unclenching a fist. Dante had returned to rubbing his temples.
“You’re totally sure Bathory said minor trolls?” Sadie asked.
“Come on Sadie, what else could have cave in her face?” Roster interjected.
“Maybe a baseball bat,” Sheila offered. “An aluminum one full of lead.”
“Exactly,” replied Roster. “For God’s sakes, she’s supposed to be a Pure.”
“Perhaps a bat made of Hawthorn would work better,” continued Sheila.
“Oh, come on Roster, Pures don’t exist,” Sadie said, waving her hand dismissively. “They’re either born or dead. The rest is just fo’show.”
“Enough,” Monique ordered. “Dieter, did the administration suspect anyone?”
I mussed my hair. I was confused. I had assumed this was all business as usual for these folks. What the heck was going on exactly? “I overheard Dean Albright on the phone. He mentioned something called Talmax.”
“Aw man, that’s just another stupid rumor,” exclaimed Sadie.
The room erupted at that claim. The members of Lambda argued amongst themselves, rehashed old debates, pointed fingers, and flicked one another off. It boiled over into a shouting match. Maria was jumping up and down saying, “I told you! I told you!” Roster looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel.
“I knew it,” he muttered. “My moms said there’s been some weird shit goin’ on in LA.”
Ichijo Fukimura sat in a corner chair, his face unreadable. I wondered what was going on in his head.
He must have noticed me staring. He smiled warmly and walked over.
“You have not slept for a long time, yes, Resnick?”
I nodded.
“Then you should rest, yes?”
That was the most sensible thing anyone had said all day. I stood, and Fukimura walked me to my room.
“It is good you are strong, Resnick.”
I yawned despite myself. “I’m sorry, Fukimura?”
“She would have perished if you were not. I would have been sad. My best chess opponent. She is most difficult to predict. Decisive, quiet, and honorable…these are good traits, Resnick.” He paused and looked me up and down carefully. “You two might make a good match.”
Fukimura’s eyes pinched closed as he smiled.
I tensed. I had given the sanitized version of the story. I hadn’t slipped up in the slightest. Monique may have sensed I wasn’t telling the whole truth, but this was different, it felt like Fukimura had seen straight through me.
“I don’t know what you mean, Fukimura…but thank you for the compliment. I’m glad Rei’s still around too. I have to pay her back for that train ticket.”
“I also despise unpaid debts…yet life requires us to carry many of them, yes?” He bowed slightly and took a step back. “Good night, Resnick, see you tomorrow afternoon.” He bowed again and shut the door gently behind him.
“I think I was just skull-fucked,” I muttered to myself.
I was settling into my bed when Jay Dante’s mild twang made me jump.
“Fukimura’s a bit weird, but he’s good guy.”
“Jesus, Dante, how long were you there?”
“Um, the whole time. I hate big groups. Specially big feudin’ groups.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “Oh, thanks for the towel retrieval by the way.”
“No sweat.”
Dante returned to his books. The only noise was an occasional page flip. A silent roommate was going to be a serious plus. I rolled over and stared at the ceiling. I wanted desperately to sleep, but now that my mind was free to wander, that nagging fee
ling had returned. I was forgetting something. Something important…
My socks?
No, I just put them away.
I sighed. I would have to try and remember what it was in the morning.
+
I was in that same room, but now it was so foggy that I could hardly see. The blood was gone. A new carpet had been laid down. A mellow yellow pattern that reminded me of the sun. The little girl was playing next to a dollhouse, but I couldn’t make out what she was doing.
I strained forward. My body protested the effort like the last mile of a race. But I wasn’t breathing. My physical body was far away again. This was a different kind of strain. Exhausted from the effort, I finally reached the girl and peered over her shoulder. Inside the tiny model house, a Barbie doll was laying flat on the kitchen counter. The doll had a maid outfit on. All around Maid Barbie lay Barbie’s favorite things: a hair dryer, a Pirate Barbie treasure chest, an Astronaut Barbie EVA suit, a Secretary Barbie typewriter. The little girl had something in her hand…another doll…Summertime Barbie. And Summertime Barbie was holding…oh! Those were the Limited Edition Dorothy Barbie’s ruby-red slippers. Only a few hundred slippers were ever made. Father had waited in line himself…
I frowned. This knowledge was bizarre. How did I even know that? I had never so much as held a Barbie in my life.
The Barbie doll in the little girl’s hand was wearing a fine summer dress, but it was dripping wet. I was having trouble seeing the colors, so I strained my eyes to will the color back into being. I immediately wished I hadn't. Blood. The little girl had dunked Summer Dress Barbie into a glass full of blood like a cookie. She marched the sopping red doll forward, humming a familiar tune between sobs.
With each step Summertime Barbie took, blood splattered across the new carpet.
A feeling of revulsion broke my focus. The dream began slipping away. I looked around the fading room. It was frustrating. I was missing something. Something important.
Chapter 16
MAN DOWN
By the time Dante shook me awake, the sun was high in the sky.
I glanced at the clock on the wall. Twelve-fifteen? Yikes.
“Wake up, Dieter. You need to hear this too,” Dante said.
I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and stumbled out of bed. “What’s wrong?” I asked. I was starving. When was the last time that I ate exactly?
“Lots. Get your clothes on. We’re meeting in the common room in ten.”
“Sure,” I replied. I grabbed my last pair of jeans and headed to the restroom to wash up. I leaned over to splash water on my face and winced. Rei had hit me hard yesterday. Looking in the mirror, I discovered a black and blue mark just below my sternum. It was the kind of hurt you feel right through to your center. I could even make out Rei’s knuckles.
You are outclassed, underpowered, and inept.
Those words stung worse.
I stared at myself in the mirror. That punch of hers, how she’d been able to compensate for my dodge, Rei had taught me something. My Sight was a great asset, but it was of no use if it could be outpaced. Entering this world was like moving up a weight-class. Mistakes I used to be able to cover with my Sight could now get me killed. Openings were no longer allowed, that was her real lesson. I needed to act smarter. If I didn’t, I might not survive. Rei seemed more aware of the state of affairs than the others. I trusted her words. They were harsh, but harsh rang true. Bending into the pain, I hit my face with water.
After I grabbed my boots and a newish white t-shirt, I swung into the commons. A very sleepy looking Sadie stood in the galley. Her fluffy pink bathrobe matched her pink bunny slippers nicely. Ms. Thompson had a very bad case of the sleepy hands and was struggling to open a packet of coffee. I peeled the packet open for her, and then took over the process of making the pot.
“Thanks, Dieter,” she yawned. "I’m not a morning person.”
I smiled back. “It’s past noon, you know?”
“Yeah, but my classes don’t start till 2PM.”
“Why is that anyway?” I asked, pouring water into the reservoir.
“Come on man-o, you might be a straight, but haven’t you ever heard of witching hours before?”
I shrugged. “Sure, but why?”
Sadie rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sighed. “The moon and the stars, that sort of stuff matters. Plus you can sense the leyflow easier at night. Sunlight is powerful and cleansing, but it interferes with a lot of what we do. Sorta washes everything out.”
“And the reason you all work outside? Don’t tell me it’s because of thresholds.”
“Good guess, actually.” She rose up on her toes and poked me in the nose. “Point goes to the newbie.”
I stifled a sneeze.
“Places where people or animals live have this inherent build-up of mana.”
“Huh?”
“Think of it like static electricity and carpet.” She shuffled about in her bunny slippers. “The more people walk around on this carpet, the more electrical charge builds up. The mana hangin’ around a home is sorta like that. Most of the time the mana is unfocused, but add a few tweaks, and a well-lived in house becomes a big ole barrier. Straights don’t realize it, but that’s why Christians pray: Dear Lord, protect this house and all the people in it.”
“Weird…”
“Yeppo. Now let’s say you come bursting into someone’s house, casting up a storm.” Sadie shuffled back over and touched my nose. A charge arched and forced me to sneeze. “You’ve just discharged energy in another person’s sphere. The buildup of energy will probably release just like that. That’ll be bad. It’ll fry your cute little tookus good.”
I blushed.
She giggled.
“Aside from all that, the weather’s really nice right now, so casting outside is the tops. During the winter, we have to work in Central’s basement.” Sadie frowned at the thought. “It smells like socks down there.”
The coffeemaker let out its last gasps of steam. I looked at the mugs hanging above the sink: LA Lakers mug, Kiss-Me-I’m-Irish mug, Kentucky Fried Chicken mug (gross, Dante, just gross), and so on. I guessed at the pink one with bunny ears and poured her a cup.
“Another point for the newbie!” she said, poking me in the nose again.
One-by-one, folks stumbled into the common room in varying stages of dress, only to fall back asleep on the couches and chairs. Each and every one looked exhausted. I guessed the Man-Dough project was taking its toll. Sheila flipped through the channels before settling on SportsCenter Europe. I sat awkwardly between her and Roster waiting for the meeting to start. Monique came in through the front door a few minutes later. She was still wearing the same clothes she had on last night and had a bad case of raccoon eyes. She walked over to the coffee maker, poured out half a cup, mixed in a bit of cold water, and drained it.
Yuck.
When Monique turned around and looked at us, there were tears in her eyes.
“Lucas is dead.”
Sheila dropped her glass of OJ. Roster managed to grab it before it shattered on the ground. Maria started shaking, stood up, looked this way and that, started crying, and then sat back down.
“I’m to replace Lucas as captain. Dante, you’re our new lieutenant. I can’t say anything more right now. Chancellor Eikhorn called for a quorum. You’ll be briefed there along with rest.” Monique turned to the rest of us. “Jules, I’ve never had to do one before. Would you mind?”
Jules nodded and stood. It was the first time I’d taken a good look at her. Jules was wearing a dress similar to the one she had on last night. A faded blue, it had certainly seen better days. It was covered in chalk marks and probably one size too big. A Jules’ hair was a mess of blond tangles draped over a pair of round wire-rim glasses that she wore low on her nose. She didn’t look very formidable, but when Jules took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, the entire room went silent. In a clear airy voice two sizes too big, Jules sang a song in a lang
uage I’d never imagined at, let alone heard:
Ādittaṃ rāg'agginā dos'agginā moh'agginā,
Ādittaṃ jātiyā jarā-maraṇena,
Sokehi paridevehi dukkhehi domanassehi upāyāsehi ādittanti vadāmi.
Jules’ voice cut right through me. The syllables were crisp and brittle, like the sobs of a wounded bird. She repeated the lyrics twice more, and some of the others joined in on the third.
After they finished, Sadie leaned over and whispered, “It’s a Dhammayut chant. South Indian. It goes: Aflame with the fire of passion, the fire of aversion, the fire of delusion. Aflame, I tell you, with birth, aging, and death, with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs.”
“It’s nice,” I replied. I didn’t know quite what to say, really. I wasn’t religious. When you were dead you were dead as far as I was concerned. Mourning the dead seemed a bit self-serving.
“Meh,” Sadie replied, “I prefer the Luciferian ones myself. They may be a bit rough around the edges, but they’re more earnest.” I near spit my coffee across the room. I made the mental note to stop sipping hot beverages whenever these folks started talking. It only led to trouble.
After a moment of silence, Monique told us to prepare for the quorum, and my dormmates shuffled off to dress.
“Dieter, you were given a robe, correct?” Monique asked.
I nodded. (Actually, I was given a coat, but whatever.)
“Good. Put it on. Lucas was supposed to bring you and the other initiate up to speed once they arrived. We’ll have to make new arrangements now.” So Lucas was escorting the other initiate…
“Monique, why is someone attacking Elliot students?” I asked.
“I can’t answer that,” she said, curtly. “Wait for the meeting.”
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