"It is good you are strong, Resnick."
I yawned despite myself. "I"m sorry, f.u.kimura?"
"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."
f.u.kimura"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 f.u.kimura had seen straight through me.
"I don"t know what you mean, f.u.kimura...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-f.u.c.ked," I muttered to myself.
I was settling into my bed when Jay Dante"s mild tw.a.n.g made me jump.
"f.u.kimura"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 feeling 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 gla.s.s 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 outcla.s.sed, 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 a.s.set, but it was of no use if it could be outpaced. Entering this world was like moving up a weight-cla.s.s. 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 cla.s.ses 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 bas.e.m.e.nt." 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 racc.o.o.n 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 gla.s.s 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 gla.s.ses 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 language I"d never imagined at, let alone heard: ditta rg"aggin dos"aggin moh"aggin, ditta jtiy jar-maraena, Sokehi paridevehi dukkhehi domana.s.sehi upysehi dittanti vadmi.
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 pa.s.sion, 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."
I was about to object, but considering how exhausted she looked, I let it pa.s.s.
"Listen," Monique said, "in place of Lucas, I"ll a.s.sign Sadie Thompson the duties of orienting you. Right now, just get your robe on and follow along."
Once we got back to our room, Dante and I put on our robes. Albright was right; the giant duffle coat looked heavy but was as light as a feather. I fumbled with the big wooden toggles and cinched up the front. Dante hadn"t said a word all morning. I went to ask him what was next, but he had paused in front of a photo at his desk. Sensing he needed s.p.a.ce, I ducked out of the room.
f.u.kimura nodded to me as he made his way down the hall. He was wearing some sort of skirt with a black cloak thingy on top. A fuzzy ball hung down low by his naval. I was about to ask him what was with the getup when Sadie waved me over. Apparently, there was certain protocol to this quorum thing. Sadie told me to stand next to her and do what she did. We were to walk in a procession with Monique and Dante in the lead. Sadie and I were to fall in behind. The others would do likewise. I found myself wondering if Rei would be coming...probably not, it was the middle of the day.
I was happy to leave the dorm. Jules" song had sent a chill through me, and afternoon sunlight felt great on my face. Maybe it was the coffee kicking in-or maybe it was just getting outside-but I felt much better. Taking the steps one-by-one, we walked out onto the path leading to main campus. It was then I noticed the dark figure standing in the shade of a tree.
"What the h.e.l.l is that?" I whispered to Sadie.
"A vampire, dumb-dumb. She was kinda like your escort, remember?"
"I know that. I mean what the h.e.l.l is said escort wearing?"
Sadie"s face became unreadable. "Formal court attire. It"s a mourning dress." I"d never seen anything like it. The jacket-with it"s hook-and-eye front, puffed shoulders, and tall rigid collar-fit as tightly as a glove. The full-length lace skirt was made to match. Topping off the ensemble was an intricately embroidered bonnet with a matching black parasol. It looked straight out of the Victorian Era. The only concession to modernity was the pair of oversized black Ray-Bans resting on her nose.
"Wow," I whispered. How the heck could showing off less skin make a girl hotter?
Sadie flipped up the enormous hood on her robe. "Girls that don"t sweat have all the fun," she grumbled.
I felt a bit giddy when Rei walked over to join our group. To say I was homesick was an understatement. It was nice to see someone I sort of knew. Maria groaned as Rei approached. She whispered a curse in Spanish and made to spit on the ground. A red flash of anger fired off in the back of my head, but remembering our little "discussion" last night, I did my best to ignore it. Instead, as Rei drew near, I readied a h.e.l.lo. Roster beat me to it.
"Sorry to drag you out of the coffin, princess," he said with a smirk.
Rei didn"t flinch. She flowed past him to the back of the group.
I let out a sigh...what was Rei doing out in the sun? I remembered how weak she looked as we walked to the train station. I wanted to make it better. Offer her a nice cool gla.s.s of iced blood or something...but that was my stupid machismo talking. I reprimanded myself. No one could force Rei to do anything she didn"t want to do, and besides, what did I know? Lucas might have been her friend.
Snickering came from across the lawn. Two students from another group were gesturing at Rei and laughing. I clenched my fists. If I was expected to just stand by and let this c.r.a.p slide, I was going to need to go out and buy a punching bag.
Monique and Dante led us toward campus. Other groups joined the procession as we walked. Once we got to Central Hall, we followed the path toward the strange circular building that served as Elliot"s main auditorium. There were no windows on the building"s smooth, circular perimeter. The cold grey stones that formed the structure were pressed so tightly together as to not leave a hint of grout. The sole entrance was comprised of a single set of bronze double doors. Two students stood waiting, clipboards in hand. Monique stopped our procession and approached them alone.
"Please state your group and its members," one of the boys requested. His voice squeaked as he spoke. I could tell he wasn"t used to giving orders.
"Registrar, Adept Monique Rice reporting for group Lambda. We stand ten strong. Emissary Rei Bathory, Apprentice Jay Dante, Apprentice Roster Dregs, Apprentice Maria Espinoza, Adept Ichijo f.u.kimura, Adept Jules Nelson, Apprentice Sheila Mordred, Adept Monique Rice, Apprentice Sadie Thompson, and Initiate Dieter Resnick all reporting as ordered."
Monique stomped her left foot when she was done.
Sadie nudged me, and we repeated the gesture as a group.
The boy examined his clipboard and frowned. "Moni-I mean, Adept Rice, your group is not in order."
"Yes, Registrar. Adept Lucas Wright and Initiate Joshua Wilco have fallen."
"Fallen?" he squeaked. "Lucas?" The Registrar looked over at his friend. The boy had gone as white as a sheet. After fumbling his pen, the Registrar made a few notes on his ledger. "Heard and noted, Adept Rice. Proceed, Lambda."
"Yes, Registrar," Monique replied. I looked at the boy as we pa.s.sed. The registrar looked even younger than me. I didn"t need the help of my Sight to sense his fear.