Authors: L. J. Kendall
Harmon, for his part, had begun to see new possibilities. So much had changed, with Leeth and Godsson's defeat of
Her
. Shocking, but fascinating. Unfortunately, Godsson was proving unhelpful: he now “knew” Melisande d'Artelle had been Lilith reborn, and that Leeth had been infected by “spores.” He also now refused to speak at all of the mysterious “deep realms” below the Imaginal.
Now Harmon needed to find a new stressor to progress Leeth's Unfolding. He had not expected her development to follow normal paths – that was, after all, one of the two key points of his experiment – yet he had expected something more than acute hearing. And a curious talent for slaughter.
Her Unfolding had also “reset” her resistance to his Suggestion spell. Re-establishing that control would be essential while he helped her adjust to living amongst normal society. Amongst the “sheep.” He winced. Yet how could he have foreseen this outcome?
All too soon, now, she would be eighteen, and his official period of custody would end. Perhaps he could use her own wilfulness, somehow.
Leeth had turned to Jackson and almost leaned into him now, both her hands casually gripping the man's thigh as she made some point, so blatant in her interest that for the first time, the newcomer had begun to look uncomfortable.
'Ah, tell me, Sara, just how old are you?'
She pulled back. 'I'm… nearly eighteen.'
'Oh.'
'Why? What does that mean: “oh”? How old are you?'
'I'm thirty two.'
But having received her answer, it was clear she didn't know how to capitalize on it. 'Well. Okay. What? Why are you looking like that?'
At first, Stark looked surprised. Then just smiled and settled back in his chair, his eyes never leaving hers.
Leeth smiled back.
Harmon wasn't entirely sure he was comfortable with her rapidly-developing infatuation with the man. Especially if the fellow was prepared to ignore her age. Yet this new situation certainly put him in a rather awkward position. How did he explain to her she was under-age, given his own error in that regard last year? Not to mention his wish for his Huntress to be untrammeled with mundane notions of “proper behavior”?
And all the while, Leeth stared up into Stark's eyes.
-
It took “Jackson” two days to fit and adjust Faith's replacement parts to his satisfaction. Followed by a further day of Leeth's cajoling and goading to convince him of a problem in the right lateral rotator cuff, even though it had not been injured in the incident.
A rocket blast,
Jackson learned.
Faith couldn't complain, naturally, and indeed had seemed quite happy following his initial repairs. But after an afternoon of watching Sara race and tussle with the dog, and joining them on their afternoon “patrol” of the grounds, she had apparently impressed him sufficiently to order an upgrade to match the replacements he'd used in repairing the CK9's injured side.
Everyone had been shocked to discover Sara could match the cyborg animal's pace. But it wasn't until that evening's meal that Harmon began to suspect the truth about Leeth's Unfolding.
Stark had spent several periods in the gymnasium, tightening and adjusting various fittings and ordering and replacing others, while Sara demonstrated some of her balance and gymnastic routines. At dinner that night he recounted Sara's feats to Shanahan and Harmon.
'Her balance is uncanny: she uses the uneven bars like balance beams! Her routines on those are spell-binding!' He draped his arm around Sara's shoulders, and she happily nestled against him, smiling in pleasure. 'And I could watch her trampoline work for hours.'
I'll bet you could
, thought Harmon, sourly. The body language between Stark and Leeth had changed. He scarcely needed to work a feather-light mindmeld to know there had already been some mild sexual play between the two.
'And on the rings – god, her upper-body strength! Seriously, I reckon your girl's routines are almost Olympic standard. Unorthodox as hell, so there'd be a fair bit of work to adapt them so the judges wouldn't mark her down just on technicalities.'
Leeth glowed under the praise, and Stark suggested that Harmon should order some high-jump equipment – he was of the opinion she might already be able to break the world record.
It appeared that Leeth's magic had been directed inward, affecting her body and senses.
Chapter 61
The next day, Jackson was supposed to begin his checking and upgrading of the Institute's security systems.
Leeth had raced through her morning routine in the gym, and the night before, had borrowed a ladder from Mr Shanahan after dinner. He'd been suspicious, and insisted on helping her. So she'd had to pretend she wanted the ring bolt high over the door into the gym so she could hang Christmas decorations later in the year.
For some reason that had made him look sad. But he also hadn’t looked convinced, and had been careful to take the ladder away afterward, too.
Leeth waited by the door now, her eyes shut while she listened. Finally, she heard Jax's quiet footsteps descending the stairs. She jumped and grabbed the rope now threaded through the ring bolt, shimmying up it till her toes reached the mantle.
Then waited, listening.
What if he didn't visit her, this morning?
But his footsteps approached, coming right up to the double doors – then stopped.
Come on, come on, step
in
!
The doors swung open, and looking down through the narrow gap between her and the wall, she saw Jackson cautiously enter. All the better. She turned her head, to make sure he was fully in, then jumped gently back, turning.
'Rarrr!'
He spun, starting to jump away, but the deadly cheetah had already Pounced her prey, overbearing him and hugging him tight as she rode him to the floor before the giggles took her. For a moment he thrashed, eyes wide before realizing it was just her. She kissed him in delight.
She was on top, just the way she liked it. She watched his eyes soak her up, as if he wanted to lick her all over.
'Do you have to check the security today?' she asked. 'There's always tomorrow. I could show you around the Institute, all my favorite places.'
He looked tempted, but in the end sighed and lifted her off him, moving her to one side. His large hands around her waist made her bite her lip. Suddenly she wanted him.
Now
.
But Jackson just laughed, insisting on doing his job.
'Why don't you tag along with me, Sara? Maybe we should check the whole perimeter, make a day of it? We could grab some food and drink before we head out.'
He took her hand and sprang to his feet, which made her smile, and she let herself be led out.
But she was frowning as they walked down the road to the front gates. She noticed him look down at the hole in the bitumen, where she'd hammered the spike for the mirror; but he didn't stop there, just raised an eyebrow as he headed straight for the IR emitter.
'Huh. Look at that: the mounting's loose. No wonder Shanahan's getting so many false alarms.'
She had to unclench her fist when he turned back toward her as he opened his toolbox. And she had to just stand there as he pulled out the old one, connected a new one; bonding it to the stone surface, this time, after replacing the far sensor with a simple mirror and checking the alignment.
'There! That shouldn't work free, and it's now only a single active system.' He checked the top one, too, and even though that was fine, insisted on replacing it as well.
They followed the wall around, with him using a telescoping mirror-sensor thing to check the top of the wall, and marking a whole bunch of entire trees for removal because they'd gotten too close.
When they got to the first of her… swings, she'd taken his arm and started trying to distract him, but he caught sight of the rope anyway, and pulled himself free.
'Hang on, what's that?' He moved around the trunk, his head craning up, and she saw him spot the end of the rope tied to the branch over his head. 'Here, give me a boost.'
He had to explain about linking her fingers together, and she seriously considered flipping him on his head to knock him out. Instead, she had to just grit her teeth and help him reach up to
her
rope, and then watch as he used it to climb right up to where she'd tied it to the sturdy branch that stretched well out from the leaning tree.
It took her the whole time he spent untying it and climbing back down to get her temper and her expression back under control.
This wasn't turning out at all like she'd imagined. Jax was a lot smarter than Mr Shanahan. She narrowed her eyes, watching his every move, asking how everything worked. It was clear, though, it'd be much harder to get around his new stuff than Mr Shanahan's old stuff.
By the time they returned to the Institute, and he started wandering around outside and checking all the security cameras on the building itself, she was having trouble acting happy. He kept turning around each time he heard her knuckles cracking.
That night at dinner, Jackson described how it appeared that in several sections of the ceilings of every floor, some cameras had been re-positioned and thermal sensors tampered with – that, or unusually clever squirrels had wrapped them in layers of insulation material. As Stark's report continued, Mr Shanahan had gotten paler and paler, staring at her in dismay. Worse, it quickly became obvious that they all knew it was her who'd been behind it all.
In one day, Jackson Stark had undone years and years of her work.
Of course his stupid alert eyes had found the tunnel under the wall in the south-western region of the grounds, too, and the other two trees she'd attached ropes to, that had branches near the walls. He'd even spotted the lengths of fine fishing-line on several of the outdoor security cameras; and of course then he'd found the eye-patch arrangements she'd crafted.
'None of the software systems had been tampered with – guess your gremlins aren't into computers.'
All three men had looked at Sara.
'Bejeesus, girl, d'you have no conception how dangerous…? If any of our inmates… Oh, gods.'
Mr Shanahan covered his face with both hands, groaning. He looked up and across the small table at Jax. 'Have you- you'll have to report all this to the Director, won't ye?' His soft accent had become just a little broader all of a sudden.
'I'm afraid so. On the positive side, none of the breaches were accessible from outside. Except the tunnel. And
that
had a kind of padlock arrangement behind the camouflage at the far end.'
'Oh, Jesus, I'm going to lose my job,' moaned Shanahan. He looked accusingly at her uncle. 'This is your fault! You let her run wild! Oh, god.'
She put her hand on his arm, but he shook her off. 'But the inmates hardly ever go out into the grounds, Mr Shanahan,' she reminded him. 'And Faith or I would keep an eye on them if they did. I promise.'
Mr Shanahan just groaned.
She looked across at Keepie. He had a funny expression on his face. She thought he'd be cross with her; or just maybe, secretly amused. But instead, he just looked kind of sad.
'What's wrong, uncle?'
But he wouldn't say.
Chapter 62
At the knock on his office door that evening, Harmon had been unsure which of the two to expect: Leeth or Jackson. In the event, it turned out to be his ward.
She stomped in and flung herself angrily into the heavy chair across from him. He didn't have to wait long.
'Jax won't let me have sex with him!'
Harmon blinked.
'And
you
won't, either! Jax says I'm too young – like you always do. He even thought I was a virgin!'
Harmon pictured his career crashing down around his ears.
'Don't worry, Keepie, I kept it a secret like you said, even though he wanted to know
who
I'd sexed with, here.
'Why does everyone say I'm too
young?
That doesn't make any sense. Obviously I'm not too young. Jax and I do lots of
other
neat stuff, but as soon as I try to put his-'
'Leeth, stop. I don't need the details.'
She looked annoyed. 'But why do you all say I'm “too young”? Look at me, I'm a grown woman, you said so yourself.' She jumped up from the seat, throwing her arms wide before beginning to pace angrily. 'And
you
keep saying we have to wait. For what? What's so special about being eighteen?'
Harmon had been expecting this. Unfortunately for Leeth, he could see only one route to safety for them all.
'Leeth, I don't know exactly what was happening to you the night you Unfolded. I gather you felt an unbearable pressure, as if you were ready to explode.'
Because I drugged you.
And
why
had he done that? The “Scope” – yes, that had been necessary to break through her uncanny resistance to his Suggestions. But the “Beep”?
There had been no real excuse for that.
But he could let none of that show. 'Is that correct?'
'Oh,
yeah!
Massively.'
'And you didn't give me much choice in what followed, either, did you?' Her aggression had taken him by surprise; and fortunately should allow him now to make her think
she
were the one who had been at fault. Part of him cringed; part of him stood back and sneered:
this is the altruistic researcher, is it? Pedophile!
But it was this, or see his career destroyed; his stunning breakthrough rejected, even lost.
And heaven help Leeth without his understanding of her, now, when she would soon need it the most. At least now he could start undoing some of the damage he had unwittingly done her. Besides, it
was
true: she hadn't given him much choice.