Chapter #65What to Do With the Child? by: Seuzz   "I don't know how much you know about me, Rick--"
"Assume I'm an ignorant son of a gun. I don't get bored listenin' to stuff I already know."
You spare no details, and Rick hides his reactions behind a blank and slightly bored veneer. When you finish, he finally has a reaction, though it's a small one: a grunt. "She mighta called me last night and told me to turn around. I was in Vegas, too, and coulda had some fun. But-- Lemme see your hands, squirt. Yeah," he says after giving your palms a cursory glance. "Kali needs to have more confidence in herself."
"She asked you to come out? On account of me?"
"Yeah. You're a puzzle, and I'm good with puzzles. So. You can turn yourself into other people. Miko Toyotomi for one, and me, for another. You're gonna find that a frustration when neither of us is around."
"Turn myself into you?" you echo, and your voice is furtive.
"How did you get away from me when I caught you earlier? And don't pretend you didn't know exactly what you were doing when you did it."
"I was just trying to knock you out," you insist. "At least, that's what happens when you put a mask on someone, it knocks them out. I thought if I could just get my hand onto and off you, before-- I didn't want to copy you."
"Yeah, the kid's a lot cuter than me. That's a temptation in there." He glances back into the living room, and rubs his eye. "When you get to my age and state of health, you gotta pay for--"
You put your hands over your ears, and then drop them when you realize how crude and cruel it looks. Rick scratches deeply at his scalp. "But Miko's here. Kali likes the entertainment." He pours another shot--this time of Scotch--but just regards it. "Be fun if you were looking like me when she got here."
You struggle to find a diplomatic way of avoiding the suggestion. "But I'd have your mind, too, and I don't want to snoop."
He shrugs. "You might as well get to know me. We're gonna be spending a lot of time together when your apprenticeship starts."
"We are?" You hope the dread you feel doesn't come through your voice.
"Uh huh. You and me are a natural fit. I'm a snoop, and you're gonna be a spy."
* * * * *
You don't ask anymore, and he doesn't expand. After a few minutes of silence, he rises and pads back into Kali's office, saying he's got emails to check. You stay in the kitchen, trying not to think about what he's said.
So you're still there when Kali and Miko return. "In the kitchen," you call in answer to your name.
Kali enters, and her eyes instantly fall onto the bottles and the glasses. She looks at you gravely. "When I told you to entertain him, I wasn't expecting you to partake as well."
"I only had one shot, Kali, and most of it wound up--" You cough theatrically. "He's in your office."
"And what do you think of him?"
"He's interesting."
"Indeed."
"I told him everything about me, up through and including last night."
"Of course you did. Did you tell him, or did he deduce it all and tell you?"
"Who is he?"
"He's our investigator. When someone or something needs to be found, some mystery needs to be solved--"
"He said we were going to be working together. A lot. He said I was going to be a spy." You blurt it all out, but it still comes with a whine.
"That's for Charles to decide."
"Do I get a vote?"
She smiles. "Charles won't put you anyplace that will make you unhappy, and anyplace he puts you, you will be happy."
You glance past her. "Did Charles put him where he is? He doesn't seem happy."
"That's his manner, and happiness is relative. He'd be miserable anyplace else, and he does like what he does."
"Then how come he--?" You glance meaningfully at the bottles and shot glasses.
"He's an Eldibrian, child. Don't take surface appearances so seriously. Why don't you start fixing something for lunch? I'll rescue him from Miko." She leaves, and you hear five, six footsteps and then-- "My table!"
She must've picked up Joe's mask, and found that huge knife hole beneath it.
* * * * *
You pull out all the leftovers from the kitchen and line them up buffet style. Rick slouches at the table; you notice that Miko takes a plate to him before getting one for herself. He pushes the food around with a fork, turning it over and over and taking only a few bites. "So you got it all figured out, Kali," he says.
"A great deal. But I am not certain, and I have apprehensions about continuing."
"Continuing what? He got some more stuff he can do?"
You're sitting right there with them, but since they insist on talking about you as though you aren't, you hold your tongue. You just keep eating and listening.
"He is recapitulating the Libra's structure, and there are some spells in there that should not be performed except under extraordinarily rare circumstances. If at all."
Rick shrugs. "He can turn himself into other people and pull off mind melds. That's probably enough." He pushes his food around some more. "Meantime, he's got some other tricks you can work on, take apart. He probably wouldn't want to pull everything out of someone's head, not in every circumstance. And he said these spells are supposed to knock people out when he uses them. That's a useful trick by itself." He looks around. "You have a bell, Kali? This trick he has of--"
"We gave him a necklace," Miko says, and shoves a spoonful of shepherd's pie into her mouth.
Kali glances over at you, and does a slight double take. "Perhaps he isn't hungry."
"Maybe he doesn't like me," Rick says. You flush with embarrassment.
"I've made him as welcome as I think I can," Kali says. "But Miko--"
"Why is it always my fault?"
"Because it usually is. Though if Edward were here we'd never see the child again."
"Speaking of the Jesuit, what's the last you heard on the cadet?" Rick asks.
"Charles wants to send him to see Margaret, but money is tight," Kali says. "He won't let me pay for it either."
"Who's Margaret?" you ask. "Are you talking about Frank?" Finally, a topic that isn't you.
"Why don't you go see Margaret?" Miko asks Kali. "Charles can't object to your packing Frank in your overnight case."
"I have the child to work with."
"Then what am I doing here?" Rick asks.
"Would you tell me what you're talking about?" you demand.
"Helping me, obviously," Kali says.
"Sounds to me like you got the theory worked out," Rick says. "Practical applications are what's needed. Leave him with me and I'll run him on some obstacle courses."
"He has studying to do, and I have to supervise," Kali says.
"Miko can stay--"
"You'd like that," Miko says sharply.
"Between us, we got half your brain," Rick continues. "How long would the cadet be in England?"
"A few weeks, probably," Kali says. "But--"
"Then don't make it hard. The squirt'll keep till you get back. And with me and Miko--"
"You'd like that," Miko says again.
"--he could get a little seasoning, not be so squirrelly."
"Or I could take him with me," Kali says with slight asperity. "I told Charles that Margaret needs to see him anyway--"
You pick up your glass and set it down sharply on the table. The women jump and whirl their heads in your direction. Rick just looks up. "Would you please stop ignoring me?" you say. "I'm sitting right--! Oh. I did it again, didn't I?"
Roses swell up in Miko's cheeks. "I gave you that necklace so--!"
Rick raps the table with a knuckle. "So he's back. Didn't creep off, either, it sounds like. What were you asking, squirt?"
"First, would you please stop calling me squirt?"
"Whatever you say, squirt." He pours himself another drink.
"Second, what are you talking about with Frank? Who's Margaret? Why does he have to--?"
"Margaret Dillon is my old teacher," Kali says crisply. "She is also a nurse, of sorts. Those who have been deeply wounded find healing with her."
"Is Frank in that bad of a shape?" you ask, feeling pale.
"Sometimes she just talks people out of thinking they're in bad shape," Rick says. He slouches, and twists the glass around. "Sometimes she just drives them to drink."
"Why do you think I have to see her," you ask Kali, worry turning to alarm.
"Everyone has to see her eventually, child," Kali says. "It's nothing particular to do with you."
That's not what it sounded like she was saying the other night.
"It's her or the Jesuit," Rick says. "Sometimes he drives people into driving over cliffs. How's Margaret feeling these days?"
"I'm worried," Kali says. "We all are."
"Maybe the squirt should see her, then, while he can. The cadet can tag along. Sounds like they'd like to see each other, and Margaret's easier to take when she has another as a distraction. Or he could stay with me and Miko--"
"You'd like that!"
"--and have some fun."
Probably they won't give you a choice, but you can at least express a preference.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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