Authors: Zachary Rawlins
Evelyn didn’t see any point in denying or confirming it. Alice sighed and tossed her to the floor, leaving her sprawled out next to the twitching body of her burned sister. Alice sat down heavily on the edge of the bed, and rested her chin in her hands, looking glum.
“Enough of this.” Alice shook her head and then smiled again. “I can see that amulet you’ve got in your hand, creature. Is it a combat working? Go ahead, try it out.”
Evelyn drew her legs up underneath her, but didn’t stand up, frozen by the smiling Auditor’s stare. She was so frightened that she almost didn’t notice when Yolanda’s consciousness disintegrated, choking on her own burned lungs. It was horrible – the presence that had been in her mind since she was born, her sister and companion for decades, snuffed out like a candle. Evelyn let out another low moan, and her hand tightened around the amulet.
“You don’t stand a chance, you pathetic shit.” Alice laughed. “I’ve killed more Witches than you’ve met in your whole life, honey. I know all your moves, all the workings, all your little tricks. I could eat you up and spit you out, if I wanted to. You could use up every ounce of power you’ve got, you and your sister, and you wouldn’t even touch me.”
“Why not do it now, and be finished with us?” Evelyn demanded, seeing a glimmer of hope, her voice firming. “If you could have, wouldn’t you already have done it?”
Alice shrugged happily.
“Obviously, you can’t,” Evelyn said triumphantly, smiling up through her tears at the Auditors. “You need us for something, right? You need to know something?”
“Nah,” Alice chuckled, turning to the masked man and exchanging a knowing glance. “We’re just sending a message. Don’t get delusions of grandeur because we’re here. You aren’t anything special. Any Witch will do, as long as your corpses are ugly enough to make the rest of you think twice after they see them.”
Evelyn gaped at the Auditor in dismay.
“Why, then? Why bother keeping us alive?”
“Because it’s good practice for the kids in the science labs at Central to have a real live Witch to tear apart, so they know how to do it when we catch one that knows something worthwhile.” Alice’s smile was crooked, and her eyes fixed on Nadia. “And because of those little girls, Witch. That’s a score I want to even.”
Evelyn’s let the idol tumble from her hands on to the carpet next to her.
“Enough with the bullshit. I’m getting bored, and we don’t need two, anyway. Burn the little one, Xia,” Alice said, nodding at Nadia. “Make it hurt. We’ve got time.”
Behind his mask, Xia gave Alice a short nod, and then his eyes narrowed, and he stared at Nadia, hard.
It took a long time before Nadia stopped screaming, her face reduced to charcoal and cinders. And then, when Nadia finally went, Evelyn felt that too, like balloon popping inside her, and then the tears came, when she realized that she was alone inside her head, for the first time in her life.
She felt bad for herself. She’d liked having sisters.
“Fucking hell, but that stinks. Well, it’s a start,” Alice said, leaning forward and crooking a finger at Evelyn. “Now crawl on over here, bitch. All fours.”
Evelyn did as she was told, tears dropping from her cheeks to the scorched carpet. The room reeked of burnt plastic and cooked skin, and she felt sick.
“Okay, now strip,” Alice said smugly, crossing her legs. “Clothes in a pile, along with anything else you might have on you.”
Evelyn numbly began to unbutton her dress. Her head ached horribly, where her sisters had always been.
“Xia, you are watching this shit, right?” Alice asked, bright-eyed and cheerful. “Don’t say I never did you any favors…”
“Do you want to talk about what happened this afternoon?”
Rebecca was perched on the front of Michael’s desk, a cigarette dangling from her left hand. She was wearing a pale yellow sweater and a loose cotton skirt, her hair tied casually back, and she didn’t seem mad at Alex at all.
“Not really. I mean, you already know what happened, right?”
Alex shifted uncomfortably on the crushed-down cushions of the aging couch in Michael’s office. It was so eerily similar to the one he had destroyed in Rebecca’s office that he half-wondered if it had been moved here instead.
“Sure.”
Rebecca smiled at him benevolently, drawing on her cigarette.
“I wouldn’t be very good at my job if I didn’t. But I’m interested in what you think about what happened. Don’t get me wrong, Steve’s a piece of work – if the kid didn’t have such combat potential, we probably would have bounced him out a while ago – but your reaction seems a little…”
“Disproportionate?” Alex smiled ruefully. “You’re probably right. I’m not totally sure what got into me. But when I hit people, I try to make it so they don’t get right back up again, you know?”
“You learn that in Juvenile Hall?”
He wasn’t surprised she knew. Honestly, he was surprised how many people couldn’t tell.
“Sure,” Alex responded earnestly. “Look, I don’t want you to think I’m some sort of psycho who goes around beating people up for no reason. I’d prefer not to fight with anybody. This was, you know,” Alex paused, searching for the words, “preemptive. I would’ve had trouble with Steve, eventually. That’s really all there is to it.”
“And Eerie?” Rebecca’s eyebrows arched. “What about her?”
“It’s true that I don’t like watching that kind of thing,” Alex admitted. “But, this was all about taking care of myself.”
Rebecca looked at him for a long time, and then laughed.
“You’re the kind of kid who keeps psychologists in business, you know?” She ground out her cigarette in the ash tray, and then hopped off the desk. “I can’t fault you completely, either. Steve did provoke you, and he was tormenting that poor Changeling girl. Not the first time he’s done that, either.”
“Changeling? Is she like those werewolves? What does she change into?”
Alex looked confused.
“No, that’s just an old name for the children that the Fey leave behind,” Rebecca said, as if that explained anything, sitting down next to him on the couch. “Eerie’s had a tough time. There isn’t much of a place for her, here or with the Fey.”
“I don’t get it,” Alex said miserably. “I’m really trying, Rebecca, but I don’t understand what is going on here.”
“I do want to help you, Alex…”
Rebecca looked at the clock and sighed. She was clearly not making her afternoon appointments today.
“You say that, and I think it’s probably true,” Alex responded, running one hand through his uncombed hair. “But I’m not stupid, Rebecca. You’re helping me because you want something from me. Everyone here wants something from me.”
“Does that bother you, Alex? That we want something from you?”
“Actually,” Alex said, smiling shyly, “I’m fine with it. It’s nice to be wanted – that’s all there is to it.”
Rebecca put a hand on his shoulder, and sighed again.
“I’m sorry, Alex, but I don’t have a lot of time today. Do you mind if we move on?”
“Sure,” Alex said agreeably. “I was wondering why you were here, and where Michael was. I thought I was going to get lectured.”
Rebecca frowned.
“I think you’ll find the consequences for today to be bit more severe than a lecture.” She leaned back against the cracked leather couch, clearly very tired. “But I’ll leave that for Michael. We have something we need to do.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s nothing bad,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “Do you remember last time? When I built those shields in your head?”
“Yeah. I can still feel them,” Alex gestured vaguely around his head. “It’s a little weird.”
“You get used to it after a while,” Rebecca said, nodding. “Has anyone explained protocols to you, Alex?”
He shook his head.
“Have you ever heard of a hypnotic trigger?”
“Sure, I think so,” Alex said uncertainly. “It’s like, once a person has been hypnotized, if they here a certain word or something, it makes them do stuff, right?”
“Sort of. Close enough,” Rebecca shrugged. “That’s basically what protocols are, Alex. Implanted behaviors and routines, just like on TV where they make people think they’re a chicken or dance around or whatever. Except we teach our students to trigger the behaviors themselves, consciously. You follow?”
Alex nodded.
“I think so.”
“Good. Well, Michael plans on showing you how to use the Absolute Protocol. We already know from your activation that you have the affinity for it. So, he asked me to set up the routine to help you operate it. We call the process implanting,” Rebecca explained patiently.
Alex thought about it for a while, and then nodded.
“Okay, Rebecca. I trust you. Let’s do it.”
Alex smiled at her, and was rewarded by an even bigger smile in return. Rebecca leaned next to him on the couch, resting her head on his shoulder.
“That’s good, Alex. And I know that it’s the truth, too, I can tell,” she softly, her shoulder pressing against his own, her hair in his face. Alex felt almost as if he were melting. “It feels good. There’s nothing an empath values more than genuine trust and affection. May I use your power, Alex?”
Alex nodded, his eyes fluttering and his breathing growing deep, regular. Rebecca put the palm of her hand on his chest and pressed lightly.
“Oh my…” she said, after a moment, sounding surprised. “Alright. I’m going to implant the protocol now. It’ll sting a little bit, and you might get dizzy for a minute, but that will pass quickly, and I’ll be right here with you. Is that okay?”
Alex nodded slightly, his eyes fully closed.
“Okay, Alex. This is the Absolute Protocol. In three, two…”
Perhaps there was a ‘one’, but Alex never heard it. He was only aware of where Rebecca’s palm met his chest, and the copper-toned light that emanated from there. It shown so brightly that he could see it through his eyelids, through Rebecca’s hand. The radiance grew slowly, gradually encompassing his whole body, then both of their bodies, illuminating the room with a dazzling array of sparks and metallic light. Alex shook and writhed and moaned like a child in the throes of a nightmare. Rebecca increased the pressure on his chest, and for a moment the light flared and became entirely white, with only a hint of crimson in the blinding, all-encompassing luminescence. Alex could see nothing else, could feel nothing else but the searing radiance.
And then it was over. Alex’s head hurt a bit, and he felt a little dizzy, but not bad. He took several deep breaths, and then opened his eyes.
Rebecca smiled at him, patted him on the leg, and then walked back to the desk. When she tapped a cigarette from the pack, Alex noticed her hands shook slightly.
“Damn, kiddo…” she said after a moment, blowing smoke at the ceiling. “Okay, the protocol is implanted. I also reinforced those shields we built the other day – you should be good ‘til next week. Come back and see me on Sunday, and I’ll fix them back up for you.”
Alex rubbed the back of his head and sat up.
“How long till I can build them myself?” he asked, blinking his eyes and trying to regain his equilibrium.