Cool! We're back on track, and hopefully back on schedule, if all goes
well. I apologize for the massive pause between issue 17 and 18 - between
school, work, and RealLife slamming into me with a dreadful finality, it
took me a while to get back on track. So anyways, mucho thanks to all my
reviewers as always, and to everybody out there who I don't know is
reading, but is anyways.
This is a big'un.
Thanks to the reviewers of issue seventeen:
Jamas Enright
Ian Porell
Martin Phipps
Pam VanMuijen
=========================================================================
DERELICT Press Presents
The eighteenth issue of
/~~\/~~\ {] /~~\ (^^^ || ***** /~~\
/ /\/\ \ [) ~\__ (^^ || ,' ~\__
/__/ \__\ (} \__/ ( || ', \__/
" Field Play "
A psuedo-Acraphobe title
._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.'COVER`._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.
It is night. It is as if one is looking out over a moonlit field of
waist-high weeds, quiet and still in the dark. In the distance there is a
large, sprawling house. There is a single light on in one of the lower
stories, but the rest of the windows are dark. At the center of the
cover, rising up from the field in a ghostlike cloud, is a flock of
doves.
)()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
All was quiet. The wind had died, and no birds called from the
nearby stretch of evergreens. Paytan sniffed as she tried to walk quietly
through the dead weeds at her feet, dust and pollen clogging her nose.
She shifted the overnight bag uncomfortably on her shoulder, and checked
again to make sure Dirmarw was still inside it, his hilt poking from one
end of the zippered opening. Beside her Brittany had Binky braced against
one hip as she walked, her eyes scanning at the various forms of plant
life beneath her feet.
Behind them the massive brick wall that ringed the massive
Reeves' farm grew slowly more distant, along with the wrecked intercom
system that had forced them to go through the fields in the first place.
Evidently one of the more distant members of Brittany's zany family, one
Zoey Reeves, had taken it out with her car. There was no way to call in
to the house to get them to open the gates. And since Brittany showed a
healthy respect to the evergreens planted on the other side of most of
the length of the wall, Paytan followed suit. This was after all,
Brittany's family, and if the girl who rushed a manga-mech with only a
chunk of concrete in her hands was leery of an evergreen, then believe
it,
Paytan was staying away too. The only section for miles that was
evergreen-free was that that walled off the field they walked through
now.
She glanced down into the thick weeds again, trying to spot what
Brittany was looking for. She didn't see anything. Just dead weeds and
patches of ailing grass.
" Just why are we in mortal fear of a field of weeds, Brittany?"
asked Paytan.
" Shhhhh. They'll hear you," hissed Brit in reply.
Paytan rolled her eyes expressively but didn't reply. Nothing
moved around them, and the air was hot and dry and full of that smell one
gets in the middle of summer when crushing dead plants under one's feet.
Brittany herself seemed rather tense, scanning the plant life around them
as if one of the dead weeds might come back to life and try to eat her.
Binky burbled away, unconcerned, the sun gleaming off his scales.
Remembering the weird evergreens, Paytan's stomach dropped, and
she jerked her head down, beginning to watch the weeds at her feet
suspiciously. Just to be sure she ground one under the heel of her foot,
leaving only tiny dry bits of stalk behind. Nothing happened, and they
continued across the field, the weeds growing slowly taller around them.
Paytan could see a fence in the distance, the grass so high by then that
the fence-posts barely peeked over the top.
Suddenly a chill wind kicked up, rushing through the tall grass
before them like a live thing. Paytan jerked, and her hand scrabbled at
the mouth of her bag for Dirmarw. There was something in there, there had
to be.
" Brittany," she hissed," it's in the grass." Brittany shook her
head stubbornly.
" They don't like the grass. It's not - crap!" she exclaimed, as
a tiny cloud of dust puffed up from part of the weed patch behind them,
about thirty feet away. "RUN!" she screamed, and bolted, sloshing water.
Paytan was only a step behind her.
" We're running in terror from something so short we can't even
see it!?" she yelled, wishing her bruises from her recent trip into hell
had had more time to heal.
" They can skeletonize a cow in less than two minutes!" yelled
Brittany back, trying to cushion Binky from the constant series of jerks
that resulted from her pace. Behind them, five more tiny puffs of dust
rose above the weed level. A thin trail of rising dust was rocketing
towards them from the site of the original movement, gaining with
incredible speed.
While Paytan was trying to process that information, Brittany
stooped in mid-run, grabbed a large stick from the ground and ripped off
the few twigs still attached to it. Paytan noted with a sick feeling that
the stick was gnawed-off at one end, as if to have originally come from
something larger, like a tree. Like something had eaten the whole thing,
and this was all that was left...
" The first one'll reach us before we get to the fence," yelled
Brittany,"Hope I remember the few things Cousin Violet taught me."
" What the hell are these things?!" asked Paytan breathlessly,
"Land piranhas?!"
" No, not quite," said Brit, as the first trail
of dust moved within three feet of her. She slammed her right foot
solidly into the ground, then spun and thumped the heel of her left foot
twice. Something small and dark shot upwards towards her face, but she
already had the stick there, in the way. And Paytan heard the tiny thok
of teeth latching into wood from where she stood a yard away.
" They're snails," said Brit, swinging the branch in Paytan's
general direction. Paytan got a flash of dull brown curlicue shell, slimy
green flesh, and a set of huge white fangs, sunk more than an inch into
the wood. The snail glared at her, eyes full of hate, then Brit stomped
her feet again and threw the stick down. "It'll take him a while to get
dislodged," she explained, watching the other dust trails closely," If I
convinced the others that I'm strong enough to take all of them on, they
won't attack. I already beat their leader."
" Brittany! Why the hell do you have fanged snails in you back
yard?!"
" Violet _really_ doesn't like gardeners."
Across the field, as they had been running, more and more dust
trails had puffed up. Now there were more than Paytan could count,
weaving in and out of each other, kicking up dust in an area forty feet
away. Suddenly they stilled, and Brit cursed.
" They're rallying," she said," Here we go again." then she
turned and ran, again. Paytan took a deep breath, trying to steady her
heartbeat, and took off after her. She could hear the rustle of dead
brush behind her as the snails charged again, getting closer. They were
fifty feet from the fence when Paytan felt something latch onto her back,
tiny teeth sinking into her skin. She grunted in pain and kept running.
She heard Brittany yell something ahead of her, saw the
net.heroine begin to slow and drop back, as if she could do anything to
help, and groaned. She didn't have any breath left to yell with, to warn
her away.
Ahead, something large and black hurtled over the fence with a
rumbling roar, its underside glowing bright yellow. Whoever they were,
thought Paytan, they were too late. By now Brittany was beside her,
urging her on, and Paytan saw her friend's face brighten upon seeing the
new arrival.
" Just a little farther!" shouted Brit, one of the snails
thudding
onto her overnight bag. The black thing roared closer, and Paytan
realised blurrily it was another hovercycle, like the one they'd left
back at the LNHHQ. There were two figures on it. One of them waved
frantically, motioning them closer, as the twin hovercycle hurtled
forwards. The other leaped off and rolled, coming to a standing position
seconds later holding a small black box. The figure jammed a finger down
onto it, and the world went still behind Paytan.
She saw the eyes of the snail clinging to Brit's bag go dull, and
it released a seconds later, dropping to the ground. The teeth in her
back disappeared, and Paytan felt the snail bounce of the back of her leg
as she ran. The rustle of approaching death halted. Paytan stumbled to a
stunned halt, turning to survey the field behind her, and the slowly
settling cloud of dust. Nothing moved. She glanced downwards, squinting
into the weeds, and gasped.
The ground was covered with them, hundreds of them, all somnolent
and unmoving. The closest was less than a foot from her foot. Paytan
shuddered, and stumbled a few steps away while the young dark-haired
woman holding the weird box wandered angrily up. She looked about
twenty-one, with night black hair tied into a ponytail at the top of her
head, and a thick set of glasses resting heavily on her nose. She had a
large white labcoat on, with all sorts of strange devices clipped to it.
She pitched a glance strong enough to melt stone at Brittany, then
dropped to her knees, muttering beneath her breath, and touched her
forehead lightly to the ground. A second later she was back on her feet,
the required greeting to Binky having been performed, still fuming.
" Hi Lily," said Brit.
" What were you doing coming through the fields!?" yelled Lily,
grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking. On the little box, a few LED's
sputtered and flared then went out, ignored. Brittany glared back at her.
" Zoey took out the intercom! What were we supposed to do, climb
onto the evergreens?"
" You could have called ahead! Told us you were coming, told us
you were bringing a _friend_."
" Called ahead with what?" asked Brit, ignoring the second half
of her relative's accusation," We haven't had a payphone outside the
front gate since Uncle Bob took it out practicing with his old prototype
gun!" They were interrupted by the hovercycle's loud thrum, as Brittany's
Aunt JoDean drove it closer. She brought the hovercycle to halt in front
of them and smiled.
" Hellooooooo everyone! Sorry about the snails, but we should
probably get out of the field soon. Lily's snail stopper is only a
prototype model, and we don't know how long they stay down! C'mon Lily,"
she said pointedly. Lily sighed, and climbed aboard.
" See you at the house," she said, and then the hovercycle was in
motion again, tearing off towards the inner environs of the farm's
estate. Brittany grumbled something about nosy cousins, then turned to
Paytan.
" Well then, shall we?" she said, motioning elegantly towards the
fence, and the distant farmhouse beyond it.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Savannah made her way slowly up the stairs to the LNHHQ roof. She
moved faster with her eyes closed, and there was less chance of falling
and getting disoriented. She'd knocked herself out that way once. She had
been watching the end of the hallway as she walked, and tripped over the
leg of a bench. Her focus point had swung out of view, too fast for her
to brace herself, and the next she'd known, she had been waking up lying
in the middle of the hallway, half an hour later. The corner of her mouth
turned down in annoyance, and she sighed, one hand reaching out in front
of her to feel for the door to the roof. She hoped Kismet was there right
now. She didn't fancy navigating her was back down and into the
Flight.thingee Bay.
Her fingers brushed lightly against wood, and she fumbled for the
handle. It was cold turning beneath her fingers, and as the door
swung open she felt the afternoon sun fall onto her face.
" Hello!" she called," Anyone out here?"
" Greetings, Savannah!" called Kismet's voice from off to the
left, and Savannah swung in that direction, opening her eyes. The roof
was laid out before her, gravel spread thinly around, scattered in places
where people had walked often, or fallen. Kismet sat at the edge of the
roof, her long blond hair let down, tossing in the light breeze that
always seemed to present at the top of the LNH Headquarters. Brittany
had convinced her to exchange her original set of clothes for something a
little bit more current, and easier to wash. She was currently in a long
white summer dress, with an encyclopedia opened on her lap, its pages
fluttering in the wind. She'd managed to get some gold polish from
somewhere, and each of her nails glittered mutedly. Her wings shone in
the sun, perfect, whole, and completely undented.
Savannah smiled and waved, then walked over to her slowly and sat
down about five feet away. Kismet considered her curiously, head cocked
to one side.
" So what brings you here, out of your dark warrens and tunnels?"
she asked, gently closing the book and setting it to one side. " Normally
I only share the roof with Paytan, or the occasional small grey bird."
" Oh nothing really," sighed Savannah,"I've been declared
mentally unsafe by my cousin, and ordered to stay here and rest until she
says I've gotten enough sleep." She blew a stray lock of hair out of her
face and leaned back, closing her eyes. Things were always seemed more
relaxed when she wasn't watching something.
" So of course you immediately came up here to see me, on the
roof," she heard Kismet say. Savannah grinned.
" Well, just because I'm resting doesn't mean I have to be
asleep."
" Ah. Do not worry, I will, um `cover for you'? Is that the
correct way of saying it? I'm not supposed to be here either."
" Yes, that's the way you say it. I thought you _wanted_ to go
through that portal-thing you talked about," said Savannah. She heard
Kismet shift restlessly.
" I was... I was being stupid and mindless. I should have stayed.
They needed me, and I should have stayed. I... sometimes we do stupid
things. It has to do with some of the things that you don't have any
words for here."
" Like your wings healing?" asked Savannah, opening her eyes in
time to see a look of confusion cross over Kismet's face.
" When were my wings hurt?" asked Kismet, puzzled. Savannah
blinked.
" When you were fighting Censor Girl, that woman who was half
metal. And she slammed her fist into your wings hard enough to make a
_big_ dent? Don't you remember?"
" Oh, that! That is not what we would call... er... a wound.
We... uh... here, watch," said Kismet, and swept one wing outwards,
spreading it as wide as she could. Savannah hadn't realized how large
they were - Kismet normally kept them closed, or only three-fourths of
the way open, even when flying. "Do you remember when I sang to you?
During your... um... Kurisimas?" she asked. Savannah nodded. "Well, my
throat is the same as yours, in basic. That's why I sound like you when I
speak. We have to use the Vij-Fal to sing. Here, see? Sharp," she said,
sweeping her wing downwards and pointing it towards her.
Savannah reached out hesitantly and brushed her fingers across
the edge of one of Kismet's primary feathers. Then she looked at her
fingers, a small cut across the tip of each one. A small bead of blood
formed at the end of her index finger as she watched. She had seen
Brittany get tangled up in Kismet's wings, the first time the winged girl
had shown up. She hadn't even been scratched - not by Kismet's feathers
at least. So the metal wasn't metal, _really_, thought Savannah. It was
some sort of substance Kismet's people could control with their thoughts,
change it at will...
" So a dent really is not that much of a problem, you see?"
continued the winged girl," It takes a little longer to work it out,
though. I am only... er... your language is so hard, with no words for
this sort of thing... like a bug I guess. Like the stages a bug goes
through? I am not imago yet... I am not one with the Vij-Fal yet." She
shook her wings, the metal chiming faintly, then closed them. "I am only
chrysalis, pupa. It takes time for me to change myself into the shapes I
want. The imago can flow like water." Kismet motioned with her hands, a
wavy sort of movement. "But I am growing older, slowly. Eventually I will
be almost imago, and then I won't be trapped here any more. I will be
able to sing my way home. No offense meant, Savannah, but I really do
not like it here," she said, glancing downwards sadly.
" It's okay," replied Savannah," I know what you mean. But you
can sing now, right? Why not just go home now?"
" Because I have only enough control for two voices now - perhaps
three if I work very hard. To return I would need many more than that.
But," she added, spreading her hands out in front of herself, sun
flashing against her nails," I _am_ growing claws. I think they would be
useful in this place - especially when half metal... um.... siborg
insect-people attack me."
" That works," murmured Savannah. She dragged her gaze off Kismet
and brought it back down onto her hands. The bead of blood on her index
finger had dried while they talked, turning from a ruby red droplet into
something rust-colored and ugly. So, given enough time, Kismet could be
an even more vicious opponent than she already was.
Savannah closed her eyes and lifted her head, opening them again
to stare out over the city. Or as close as she could get to staring out
over it, with her gaze locked onto the side of a grey skyscraper, tiny
people in business suits hunched over their desks and walking to and fro
behind darkened window panes. Paytan and Dirmarw had the ability to
control demons, and a steadily increasing magical knowledge. And
Brittany, with a mind like a carnival mirror maze, all reflections and
wackiness. Where could they go wrong? Who couldn't they overcome, given
time and forethought? "I wish my powers worked," she whispered to
herself. Kismet glanced up.
" What? I did not quite hear you, friend Savannah?"
" It's nothing," demurred Savannah, deciding she didn't want to
look at the city anymore. Kismet was right, everyone did look like little
ants when you were up here, scurrying to and fro, not even caring who you
were. She got carefully to her feet," I'll see you around, 'kay?"
" Alright," Kismet watched her worriedly," Be well."
Savannah made a noncommittal sound in reply, and headed slowly
towards the access door on the roof. It was stupid to get this depressed
about things, she thought to herself as the door handle turned beneath
her hand. It doesn't mean that you're worthless, just because others are
better at something than you. Better at everything than you.
She reached her room a few moments later, wandering inside, eyes
closed. Her hands found the red shoebox, ever-present beside her bed, and
lifted the top off it. She took out a few gewgaws and tiny toys, and
threw them into the room around her. Brittany may care about her, but she
didn't know how it felt to have a power like this. Didn't know how it
felt to be useless. Savannah took a deep breath, turning around, opening
her eyes.
And began to practice again.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
Brittany wandered a few feet ahead of Paytan, drifting in the
general direction of the massive house in the distance, currently hidden
by a sweep of maples. Paytan glared and kicked at a rock as she walked.
Almost getting eaten by killer snails was not her idea of a good day. And
Dirmarw hadn't helped any, for reasons unknown. He hadn't said a thing to
her since early this morning, when he had abruptly cut off her daily
magic session. Not that he regularly carried on long conversations with
her, but the sword could usually be counted on to make at least one
sarcastic comment every hour or so.
" Isn't that right, Dirmarw?" whispered Paytan, too low for
Brittany to hear. The sword lay silent in her over-night bag,
unresponsive, and Paytan shivered. Dirmarw couldn't care less about her
feelings, but he had a vested interest in keeping her alive. And Paytan
hadn't heard a peep out of him during the entire snail fiasco. She could
still feel him in the back her mind, a dark and heavy weight, but his
attention was elsewhere. Paytan glanced downwards, watching her feet kick
up dust on the worn dirt path. She should be enjoying the free time, she
thought sourly. But she was still worried. The damn sword had never done
anything like this before. Maybe it was nothing. After all, she already
had enough problems with Allen, a.k.a. Stalking Boy.
Paytan sighed. The last time she'd seen him, Faq Boy/Allen had
given her a copy of her favorite comic book (which she had never told
anyone she liked) then tried to make a move on her the size of Texas.
She'd thrown him out of her room, then returned from her last trip to
hell to find he'd left her a Christmas present, in the form of a massive
wooden crate left in the center of her room.
The little card that had said only "I'm sorry." and nothing else.
Inside were lots of chains, and a whip.
Paytan growled. She didn't feel like dealing with this right now.
Why did he have to be such a slimeball one minute... and such a nice guy
the next? It's easy, too easy, to fake being a nice guy, she thought.
Just a smile and a few kind words. But why go and _act_ like an idiot
with such disappointing regularity, if he was trying to impress her? Was
what she was seeing real, or merely facade after facade, a tumbled
collection of walls and lies? Should she trust him, or not? Paytan
whimpered and kicked at another stone on the pathway, watching it sail
high into the air and ricochet off a nearby tree, rolling down an
embankment with high-bouncing gait. She didn't _want_ to think about
this right now.
So why not just let it drop, for a little while? There was
nothing to be done about it now, out here in the midwest surrounded by
Brit's crazy family. And lots of things she could distract herself with.
When she got back home she'd deal with it. When she didn't get attacked
by really fast carnivorous snails at the drop of a hat. Which reminded
her.
" Brittany?" she asked," Do I have to worry about anything else
on this stupid farm? Like, are the sheep going to try to eat us, too?"
Brittany stopped, and considered.
" Well, the most the sheep will be able to do to you is hit you
_really_ hard. But they're kind of soft and squishy, like this,"
explained Brittany, making little mashing motions with her hands,"so you
shouldn't really worry about them. Just... avoid what you see everyone
else avoiding, okay? That should cover most of it." Paytan rolled her
eyes.
" Brittany, do you realize that this place could probably - "
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!" screamed something as it leaped out of
the bushes and tackled Brittany, sending them both rolling downhill.
Paytan watched, nonplused, as the something and Brittany rolled away,
locked in giggling combat.
" It's okay, Paytan," shouted Brittany,"he's related to me!"
" I figured!" yelled Paytan back, deciding that the thing
_wasn't_ some strange living plant, only a kid with a good lot of
branches tied onto his back. She sighed.
Brittany flipped onto her back, grabbed onto the kid's shoulders
then flipped again, ending up on top of him. She smiled vindictively, and
gave the struggling child a Class A noogie.
" Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww _Britty_! Stop it!" he wailed.
" Brittany," said Brittany, and rolled off him. He sat up,
rubbing his head and watching her warily. Brittany grinned, then looked
up at Paytan, standing above both of them with Dirmarw slung over her
shoulder.
" This thing," motioned Brittany," Is my cousin Billy. Say Hi
Billy."
" Hi Billy," muttered the kid, sitting up and rubbing his head
ruefully. Then he grinned up at Paytan, and began to peel some of the
camouflage-providing branches off his back.
" So you're Brittany's friend? You a superhero too?" he asked.
" My name is Paytan Valkalian. And if you ever tackle me like
that I'll run you through, got it?" said Paytan. This was supposed to be
a nice calm family reunion, where everybody remembered exactly _why_ the
various branches of a family never spoke to each other. Not a battle
rally. Billy wrinkled his nose at her, then turned back to his cousin.
" Brittany, Tim's arrived. He's in the second living room right
now. And we still haven't found the Notes. Helga says she had them for a
minute or two about three hours ago, but that she lost them again. And
Viveka wants to speak to you," reported Billy solemnly. Then he turned
and quietly bowed to Binky, sitting unconcerned nearby in his fish bowl,
grinned and ruffled Brittany's hair (as she protested) leaped to his
feet, and shot off into the underbrush. Brittany sat back and groaned,
running a finger through her hair in an attempt to get it back under
control.
" Great," she muttered, resting her forehead in the palm of her
hand," I was really hoping Aunt Viveka wouldn't show this time." Paytan
worked her way down to where Brittany sat, and cocked her head to one
side.
" One of _those_ kinds of relatives, huh?" she asked. Brit
frowned.
" Yeah, kinda. Nothing we can do about it now. Here, give me a
hand up, and we'll see if we can't go in the back way and sneak past
her." Paytan sighed an stuck out her hand. _Lots_ of things she could
distract herself with.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
They managed to get in through the back door of the kitchen
without encountering Brittany's dreaded relative, although Paytan's
overnight bag almost caught on fire when she set it down on the barberque
unit one of Brittany's Cousins had camouflaged as a welcome mat a few
years ago. They met the cause of the entire time-warp, Lost Notes, etc.
problem a few minutes later.
Tim didn't look like Paytan had expected him to. Not that she had
planned for horns, or a dark swirling cloak black as night, or anything,
but she had expected someone... a little more imposing maybe. Someone
who's arrival or lack thereof could cause the end of the Universe As We
Know It, should be imposing. At least he was tall, at about six foot
three. But he looked like a college student, with a black deathrocker
T-shirt, torn jeans, and a small goatee. And the most horrible pipe
bottle glasses she had ever seen.
They were bent out of shape, as if someone had stepped on them
accidentally, then tried to force them back to the way the were
originally. Multiple times. But the eyes that looked through them were
full of wonder, as if everything Tim saw was just as new and fresh to him
as the day he had been born.
He had greeted Brittany in the hallway, with a hug that swept her
up off the floor and into the air, almost flinging one of her fish
covered tennis shoes off of her foot. Brittany had responded in kind
(except that she wasn't as tall as he was, so all that swinging into the
air stuff wasn't very viable. She made the effort, however). Then he had
solemnly taken Brittany's goldfish and set it atop an oaken pillar in the
center of the entry hall. Binky hadn't seemed to mind any. Tim didn't
look much like a time-traveler, a man thrown out of time for the rest of
his life. He looked like someone's older brother come home for the
summmer, happy but a little out of place, and not quite back into the
swing of things. Paytan decided she liked him.
" ... anyways, we haven't seen it since then," Tim was saying as
Paytan's thoughts returned to the conversation at hand. He was sitting in
one of the living room chairs (plaid, leather covered) leaning forward
earnestly and gesturing at Brittany, who was sitting cross-legged at his
feet. Paytan sighed, and shifted, leaning against the wall.
" So you had them, then lost them, then Helga found them and then
lost them again?" asked Paytan. Tim nodded, pushing his glasses up with
his index finger.
" Where was Helga when she found them?" asked Brittany.
" In the third story attic. The one with Uncle Bob's old mecha in
it. I think she was looking for a dinner recipe," replied Tim.
" The mecha with those big wings that rusted open a few
Christmases ago?" asked Brit, rocking back and forth.
" No, the one with the spikes. She said she had it for a few
minutes, then set it down, turned to pick something up, and when she
turned back it was gone. She found the recipe though."
" Fun," growled Paytan," So we get to go crawl through some weird
attic looking for a notebook?" Tim sighed and stood up, brushing the dirt
blond hair out of his eyes with one hand.
" We've already checked there twice, actually. But it's worth it
to go up and check it again - the only one who was up there for any
amount of time was Maijen..."
" Mmph. And Maijen probably wouldn't have found it, even after
thirty or so years looking," muttered Brittany. " Everybody else is out
looking around the house and fields and stuff right now, right?" Tim
sighed.
" Since three a.m. this morning. Helga's already made dinner, so
you won't be able to eat something hot until the morning. I did ask
JoDean to get a room ready for Paytan near yours, however. And Viveka
wants you, by the way - something about a gift in return for that dagger
you gave her a while back... Good luck finding everything," said Tim.
Then he smiled, dipped his head to Paytan, patted Brit on the head
absent-mindedly, and walked slowly from the room, touching the pieces of
furniture as he went, as if seeing them for the first time.
Paytan watched him go, and thought absently that she would have
liked to have a brother like him when she was younger. Then reality
intruded upon her yet again, in the form of Brittany grabbing her and
physically dragging her behind the couch.
" C'mon," whispered Brittany," If we wander around the first
floor Viveka _will_ find me. So to get to the third story attic, we're
going to use the ventilation ducts!"
" The WHAT?!"
-=ð=- -=ð=-
About half an hour later, after a back-cramping journey through
the metal-pipe maze that supposedly passed for the Reeves' family
ventilation system, Paytan was sliding out of a duct and onto the
splintery comfort of an old wooden floor. Brittany followed with a thump
a moment later, rolling quickly to her feet and squinting into the pale
darkness. She looked small standing in the middle of that massive room,
her rainbow patchwork trenchcoat gone dull in the lightless air,
surrounded on all sides by dark towering forms, stacks of boxes and weird
shapes, like an endless cavern of dust and memories.
" I hate it when they leave the light switch near the door,"
muttered Brit. Paytan heard her sigh, then the sound of a massive thump.
She squinted into the dark, trying to discern Brit's movements.
" Brittany," she hissed," What the hell are you doing!?"
" Umm," came back a voice after a few minutes pause," I'm hanging
by my feet off of some sort of ledge... I think I'm near the door now."
Paytan closed her eyes briefly, then sighed and stuck her hands out in
front of her and began to feel around. She was in some sort of aisle,
with boxes on either side of her, and some... sort of... metal thing
behind her. Something creaked ominously off to her left.
" Oops," whispered Brit, a half-second before the ominous
creaking became a horrible screaming crash. Soon followed by another
creaking sound, and the crack of splintering boards echoing across the
room like a gunshot. Suddenly light flared all around her, and Paytan
grimaced, squinting.
Directly above her hung gargantuan fluorescent lights, pouring a
glow so bright down on the room that not a single shadow was evident.
Crates of all sizes towered around her, some with sheets or dustcovers
thrown over them, some made of a metallic-looking, high-tech material,
and some left to the open air. They stretched from wall to wall in
barn-sized room, with odd little pathways and bridges running between
them, when possible. Labels were scrawled on them, in pen (Kitchenware,
Living Room Furniture, Spare Tables), pencil (Maijen's Old College Stuff,
Marcelyn's Veggie Recycler), and various other, less identifiable writing
materials (Maug's Old Spellbook's DO NOT TOUCH, Vrpstkitgh, Fried
Broccoli). And that was just the first few Paytan happened to glance at.
But overall, the room was dominated by one thing. The mecha. A
metal creation, made of old sprockets and gears, car parts and scrap
iron. Five massive spikes graced it's draconian head, gleaming dully in
the oppressive lighting. The boxes and crates stopped about five feet
away from it on all sides, leaving it in its own territory, alone. The
windows that passed for its eyes were dusty, and dim. The whole thing was
coated in dust, in fact. Then something clunked faintly off to her left
again, and Paytan's attention was drawn away.
" I got the lights on," called Brit, from somewhere behind a pile
of crates. Paytan looked wearily at the towers of boxes and crates around
her.
" Stay where you are Brit," she called back,"I'm coming." She
found Brittany a few moments later, sprawled uncomfortably in the midst
of piles of old clothing. Pieces of a splintered crate lay nearby, and
the surrounding area was coated in articles of clothing ranging from
winter coats to swimsuits. Brit grinned up at her, and pulled a bright
green pair of shorts off her head.
" So," said the rainbow-coated wonder,"did you see the Notes on
your way over here?" Paytan looked at her and sighed, flopping down on a
nearby pile of boxes.
" I wasn't looking. This place is amazing. You've got so _much_
weird stuff around here, I don't think you could ever find them..."
Paytan glanced down at Dirmarw's hilt, sticking out of her overnight bag
incongruously, and sighed again. Brit stared up at the ceiling, or rather
the lights.
" But we have to find them," she said,"or someone does." She
kicked her foot into the air casually, again and again. The second time,
her heel made contact with a chunk of wood, and sent it skittering across
the floor towards Paytan. Paytan leaned over and picked it up casually,
turning it over and over in her hands.
" Why? Because of that stupid time thing? What's the deal with
that, anyways? If your cousin doesn't read'em in time all existence will
just implode or something?"
" Or something, probably," said Brit. "It's _really_ hard to
explain." She levered herself into a sitting position and looked at
Paytan earnestly. "My cousin Tim hasn't been born yet. He won't be born
for a while yet, either. Thirteen years after he _is_ born he's going to
stumble into some sort of experiment that will send him hurling back
through time. Through an effort of will, he can actually force himself to
move forwards in time for a short while. That's how he can attend family
reunions. But after a while he gets tired, and loses his grip on time,
and starts hurtling backwards. He's been at almost every family reunion I
ever went to, and he's younger every time I see him. And while I remember
him ever since I was a little girl, this is the youngest _he's_ seen me."
" Wacky," muttered Paytan, running the chunk of wood along
Dirmarw's blade slowly. It sheared in half, one piece of it hitting the
ground with a thump. Paytan went back to picking at it with her
fingernails.
" Pretty much. Anyways, since we remember him doing stuff he
hasn't done yet, we make a little note of it after each family reunion,
and give it to him the next time we see him. He reads it, and knows what
_not_ to do at the next family reunion he attends (our _last_ one). So we
never remember him doing the thing we asked him not to do in the first
place, because he already hasn't done it, in _our_ past. But if the Notes
are lost, then he won't know what _not_ to do next time. But the problem
is, since it's in our past, he already _hasn't_ done it. Paradox. World
go boom. Or something." Brit sighed, and stood.
" So we get to dig around in here for the rest of the night?
Geez, it must ten p.m. already... how long do we have to spend in here?"
complained Paytan, pitching the piece of wood over her shoulder and
rolling off the pile of boxes. Brit turned slowly to survey the
surrounding area.
" As long as it takes, I guess. I suppose if I take the left side
and you..." Brit's voice trailed off, and Paytan turned to see her friend
as white as a sheet, staring above her into the lights.
" Brittany? What - "
" Go to bed, Paytan," said Brit, still watching the rafters,
"Downstairs one floor, third door on your left. It's right next to my
room. I'll see you in the morning." Paytan looked at her like she was
insane.
" Brittany, what the hell are you - "
" Go to bed, little girl," said a voice from up above, dripping
malice.
" NOW, Paytan," hissed Brittany. Paytan looked at Brittany's
face, full of tension and as white as milk. She turned to glance upwards,
but the glare of the lights made it impossible to see anything more than
a dark blur crouched above them. She didn't much understand what was
going on, and it wasn't any of her business anyway. And yet...
Brittany turned to her pleadingly, and Paytan folded. The door
was nearby, only a few yards away. Paytan patted Brit on the shoulder
briefly as she passed by, then shut the door carefully behind her.
-=ð=- -=ð=-
The room was silent and dark, moonlight shining pale through the
one opened window. The cold came through too, leeching through two layers
of blankets right into Paytan's bones, where she lay staring up at the
ceiling. It was far past twelve, and she shouldn't have been awake, dark
brown eyes gazing upwards at the plain ceiling, one half of her face
soaked in shadows. But she couldn't sleep, thought after thought chasing
itself around inside her head. Dirmarw still hadn't spoken to her since
this morning. Not a word from the corner he had set up in her mind. Not
one explanation or reprimand, not one comment or barb. Just a heavy
skulking weight, crouching behind her thoughts and staring out into the
night in the back of her mind. And she still hadn't heard Brittany
walking in the hallway, or going to her room. Which meant she was
probably still upstairs, talking to whoever had been in the rafters.
Paytan sighed and rolled over, shifting her gaze to the old wooden
floorboards and the sliver of light peeking under her door from the
hallway. She didn't feel like being awake right now. Too many thoughts
were freed from their prisons with the setting of the sun each night. But
she didn't want to deal with the nightmares that sleep brought, either.
So she lay, hovering at the edge between alertness and dreams,
watching the light and the floorboards dully. Unbidden, twisted forms
rose into her mind, formed from shadows and memory, creeping across the
floor towards the bed. She wondered how Jynx was doing. She wondered what
was wrong with Dirmarw. And if, back in Net.ropolis, Allen was thinking
of her. And why Brittany's family was so damn jumpy.
Finally she gave up, and threw the covers off. She sat up to
stare out the window, across the darkened fields. Outside it was only a
crescent moon, and the stars barely lit the pale countryside just beyond
the sill. The breeze that had been flowing around the house earlier in
the day had gone, to be replaced by unmoving air. Paytan shifted into a
kneeling position, resting her elbows against the sill and putting her
chin in her hands. Her gaze trailed across the unmoving fields, and the
thin patches of the trees scattered throughout the estate, to the
evergreens bordering the property wall. They continued to sway gently,
a continuous sussuration of leaves lisping through the air towards her,
shattered suddenly by the scream of a dying animal. One of the trees
thrashed for a minute, and the scream was cut off abruptly. Paytan
shuddered. Things here were not always as they appeared.
All of sudden she didn't feel like looking outside anymore.
Paytan leaned back and closed the windows quietly, one hand reaching
behind her to brush Dirmarw gently. He lay still and silent on her
nightable, but she still found his presence a comfort, of a sort. Minutes
passed in grinding silence, as the room slowly got more and more
oppressive. It was a guest room, and like all guest rooms it lacked any
personality or interest. Merely blank walls and spare sheets. Paytan
finally threw herself off the bed and to her feet in exasperation. Maybe
Brittany had gotten into her room a different way, and dammit, if Paytan
couldn't sleep then she wasn't going to let Brittany either.
The guest room door opened silently into the darkened hallway,
and Paytan peered cautiously down it in both directions. No one around.
She closed the door gently behind her and paced to the door on her left.
It looked more well-used than the other doors in the hallway, with dents
in various places along it, and the doorknob dull with dirt from hand
after hand. It, too, opened silently. Paytan stuck her head cautiously
into the darkened room.
" Brittany?" she whispered,"Are you in there?"
Silence. Not even the sounds of breathing.
" Brit? If you're faking not being here just to be weird I'll gut
you," hissed Paytan quietly. Still no answer. Paytan sighed and turned to
go. But a second before she left, the weak moonlight flashed on something
across the room, catching her attention. Paytan turned back, and closed
the door behind her. She probably shouldn't do this, she told herself. It
was wrong to go through your friend's room. So I won't go through her
room, she said, I'll just see what that flashing thing was and go. And
she was bored, and tired but unable to sleep, and curious. And what harm
could one little peep do? Her fumbling hand found the switch a second
later, and the warm glow of light filled the room.
And Paytan took a deep breath, stunned.
There is such a thing as a cluttered room, and there is such a
thing as a messy room. This was beyond both, some form of twisted
creature birthed of both parents, the whole worse than its parts. Gewgaws
and gadgets hung from the ceiling, and every available surface was
overflowing with papers and bits of ribbon, buttons and carvings and
crystals, plastic animals and pebbles and bottles of stuff. Paytan shook
her head ruefully. She wouldn't have been able to search the room even if
she'd wanted to.
But the bed at least, was clean and well-made. Paytan wandered
over to it and sat down on it. It was a picture, a picture on the
nightstand that had flashed. The moonlight had caught on some of the gilt
edging of the frame and flowed across onto the polished glass that
covered the picture. Paytan looked at the picture itself quizzically.
It was of Brittany, a younger Brittany. And an older woman, with
strong family resemblance and the same kind of curly hair had one arm
wrapped around Brit's shoulder proudly. They both were looking into the
camera proudly. The gilt edging of the frame swirled into a tiny plaque
at the bottom of the picture.
" To my beautiful daughter, the Avatar," whispered Paytan,
mouthing the words. Brittany's mom. Paytan felt a pang for a second, and
wondered how her own mother was doing, back home. Back home, with no idea
where her daughter was, or even if she were okay. Paytan sighed, and
stood, setting the picture back on the nightstand gently. Time to go back
to bed, before Brittany returned and found her snooping. Then a sudden
wind whistled by one of the windows, and whispered a distant call into
the silence of the room.
Brittany's room was at the corner of the house, with two windows.
One faced out into the empty fields and the evergreens, as did Paytan's.
The other, however, looked out over an entirely different piece of the
Reeves' property, and it was from this window that the call drifted
through. Paytan went to the door and flipped off the light switch, then
moved slowly back across the room and opened the window.
The same changeless fields stood silent before her, banded by the
same distant wall, and the same distant evergreens. But the wall was more
distant on this side, to the point of being more than a mile or two away,
and between the house and that wall rose something strange. Paytan
squinted, and leaned out of the window a little. It looked like a stone
tower, leaning drunkenly to one side. It was thin and tall, far too thin
to actually hold rooms inside it.
It was almost dreamlike, a spear of stone like that, poking out
of the flatlands and outlined in the light of the moon and stars. Then
the wind brushed by her again, bringing a repetition of that same odd
call. Paytan shook her head blurrily. But it wasn't a dream, was it? She
couldn't have actually drifted off to sleep, and be dreaming this. But
sometimes her dreams were so vivid...
Then from the center of the field, around the odd stone
outcropping, that strange long call came again, louder this time. A flash
of white sparked against the black night, and Paytan blinked. Another
soon followed, then more, one after another, until a cloud of white was
swirling around the statue in a cloud of motion and diving. Paytan
realized a split second later that it wasn't a single noise she was
hearing, but many. One call after another, until a chorus of birdsong
formed into one fey sound, carried by the wind into the night. They were
birds, a flock of white birds. That was all.
But they weren't flying _away_, only around. They circled again
and again, that same eerie song reaching Paytan only distantly and in
parts. She couldn't see what they were circling around, only a flash of
it now and then. It wasn't the stone, but something in front of the
stone... A flash of color against the night, outlined by the bird's white
bodies. A coat of some sort... a patchwork, with all the colors of the
rainbow... No. It... it couldn't be.
What would Brittany be doing out in the fields at this hour, with
a flock of pale white birds singing to her?
I must be dreaming, though Paytan. This must be nothing more than
a hallucination, something my overstressed mind has cooked up to help
drive me over the edge into insanity. See, those footsteps there, slowly
getting closer. That must be Brittany, coming up to sleep. She couldn't
be out in the fields, with that ungodly song -
Footsteps?
Paytan jerked, and spun around, staring desperately into the
darkness behind her. Silence. Then the footsteps started up again. They
were outside the door, in the hallway. They must have stopped outside
Brittany's door for a moment, thought Paytan. But they didn't come in.
The footsteps continued, then stopped again, and Paytan heard a
door open. She almost sighed in relief, until she realized that the door
that had just been opened was the one that led to her room. The room she
should be in now. For a full minute there was no sound, and Paytan stood
frozen, barely daring to breathe. Then she heard the door shut again
slowly, and the footsteps receded, moving down the hallway and away from
her.
Now what was she going to do? She couldn't say she'd been in
Brit's room, watching her best friend stand out in the middle of the
fields...
Paytan whimpered, deep in her throat, and scuttled quickly to the
door. She refused to look behind her, for fear of catching a glance
outside the window, of seeing those birds again, of hearing that song...
The hallway was empty, luckily enough, as she did not pause to
check for watchers in her mad dash back to her room and her safe, cold,
bed. Paytan paused only to shut her door securely, and to snatch Dirmarw
from the bedtable. She threw herself down on top of the bed, sword held
to her side, with one hand on his hilt. In the morning she would wonder
why a dream, with only a flock of birds and a set of footsteps, would
scare her that deeply. But now, with the evergreens swaying in the
windless night, and that eerie song floating gently through even the
closed panes of her window, Paytan shuddered, and closed her eyes, the
sweat of fear soaking slowly through her nightclothes.
________________________________________________________________________
Binky, Dirmarw, Kismet, Lily, Out-of-It Lass, Perdition, Tim, JoDean,
Weirdness Girl, copyright Jennifer Whitson, 1995.
Next Issue:
The Reappearance of the Notes of Tim. Meeting Grandma. The
Conclusion of the Family Reunion Arc.
========================================================================
