Chapter 56

Heather tolerated the silence as long as she could. "Someone say something, okay?"

Jason turned his head away from the window just as the bus lurched through the turn from Green Avenue. Melinda appeared startled, as if she had been dozing. Richie just frowned.

"Why aren't we talking about what we're going to be doing today?" Heather asked.

"Anything we talk about now we'll just have to repeat for Ned, Cassie, and Diane," said Jason. "And I'm not sure what there is to do during the school day except get through it."

"And if Victor goes for the Book?"

"When he hasn't had the balls to it before now?" Richie muttered.

"The Book is safe," said Jason, though his voice held little conviction.

Melinda noticed and frowned. "Oh, that makes me feel so much better, thanks."

Jason sighed. "What would you want me to say, Melinda?"

"That they're not going to try and take me again!"

"I doubt they would do that in school. This might be the only 'safe' time we have today."

"I have to attend Ms. Hollis' class again," Heather snapped. "I wouldn't call that safe."

"What more can she do to you?" Richie said. "Doesn't she think she has that stupid deal going with Ms. Bendon?"

"And if she finds out she's been tricked?"

"She's not gonna find out!"

"How do you know that?"

"Okay, fine, I fucking don't," Richie growled. "But--"

"Why is everyone ignoring what Ms. Bendon is going to do to her at the party?" Melinda demanded.

"Melinda, please," Heather said.

"You're ignoring it, too! Unless your brain has got so bubbleheaded from the things she's making you wear that you're looking forward to it now."

Heather paused and let out a controlled sigh. She squeezed her thighs together. "No," she lied.

"What's the big deal? We use the power we're gonna get from the spell to stop her cold," Richie said.

"We might need every bit of it to get Ms. Hollis and help Cassie with Gina," said Jason. "And keep Victor at bay."

"That's what I tried to tell Melinda," Heather said. "Anyway, you can't take Ms. Hollis if Ms. Bendon is watching. She's ... she's going to want to play with her little harem girl at the party."

"Stop that," Melinda said.

"Stop what, runt?"

"The way your voice goes all breathy when you say things like that."

Jason had known that Heather was going to have to serve as a diversion and was grateful that she had deduced it herself. "We're going to have to stick together very closely after school. We can't let anyone get any of us alone. You all know how much trouble Victor's people had trying to take Melinda when just Richie was there."

Richie allowed himself a small, smug grin.

"Yeah, and I was still taken anyway," Melinda muttered. She looked at Richie, who frowned back at her. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

Richie paused, then shook his head. "Forget it."

"I j-just don't want to go through that again, okay?"

When Jason gave her a sympathetic look, she almost told them how she had woken up several times during the night, convinced that she was back at the mansion and unable to move unless commanded. She had to get out of bed and walk around the room to convince herself otherwise before she could get back to sleep.

Even when she slept, her dreams had been plagued with images of strange men entering the room, and her body moving of its own accord to seduce them into her bed despite her silent screams to stop.

"I have to willingly give him the pendant," said Jason in measured tones. "He can't use the Book the way he wants to without it. And the Book doesn't want to be given to him."

"I still say that's really disturbing, Jason, that the Book can actually have feelings like that," Heather said. "I don't want to think it could be influencing ... that it could..."

"It's not," Jason declared, touching the pendant under his shirt. "It can be annoying when it talks to me, but that's about ... Heather?"

"I think I just figured something out from my vision!" Heather cried, then lowered her voice when several other students on the bus looked in her direction. "The last part, where he's fighting to stop the Book from being taken from him. What if he's actually fighting the Book itself?"

"That's fucking creepy, " Melinda said.

"But I think Heather's on to something," Jason said, leaning forward in his seat. "The Book is scared of being given to Victor. I just don't know why."

"But Victor will give it to the Darkness," said Melinda. "That's what it's really scared of. It would scare me!"

"But it's been used by the Darkness before through Melissa, and it never acted that way. It's always been content with its current owner."

"I still feel like there's one more missing part to the vision," Heather said. "I'm really hoping I get to see it before everything goes to hell."

Jason touched the pendant through his shirt. You are afraid of the Darkness.

Jason stated the point with no hint of doubt or hesitation. He could sense the Book as a bundle of nervous energy at the edge of his mind, like someone trying to appear stoic in the face of fear save for telling twitches of his mouth or anxious gestures with his hands.

What is it exactly that you're afraid of? Tell me. Maybe it will help me keep you away from Victor.

It was listening to him; Jason could sense that much. But he heard nothing in reply.

It makes no sense to keep it from me when you want me to keep you and use you. I can't do that if I give you away to Victor, now can I?

Silence.

"It won't tell me," Jason said. "It's afraid of something and it won't tell me what."

Melinda shivered. "Yeah, that is creepy," she muttered.

Laura did not bother knocking. She let herself in and slammed the door behind her. "All right, just what in the hell do you think you're doing?"

Victor lifted his eyes and leaned back in his seat. He showed no surprise and no anger at her rude arrival. "And this is in regards to what, Laura?" said Victor in a friendly tone of voice.

"It is in regards to why I suddenly have two new members of the administrative staff that I most certainly did not hire, but everyone else acts as if they were always here. I want to know why."

Victor smiled. "I would suspect it is due to your own association with the Darkness that protects you from their influence."

"That is not the question I asked!"

"If you prefer, however, I can have them concentrate more fully on you, so you can just accept them as everyone else does."

The supreme confidence in which Victor delivered his words gave her a moment's pause, but that was all. "Is that a threat?"

"Take it as you please. It is not my concern."

"It is very much my concern, especially when you stated at the outset of your little adventure that our paths would not cross. Altering the membership -- and the minds -- of the staff is crossing my path."

Victor folded his hands in his lap and leaned further back in his seat. "It will not affect any machinations you have planned for this evening, and after today they -- and I -- will be gone."

"So you claim."

"Laura, I am not involved in the petty games of power that so interest you and your ilk. I work to a far greater goal. In no way do I wish to remain here any longer than I need to."

Laura folded her arms. If it were her playing for such power at the school, she would certainly not leave anytime soon, and she would not be above telling someone that she intended to leave just to keep him off her back.

Victor chuckled. "Perhaps I see this situation more clearly than you think I do. I know of your claim on Heather Sovert. I will not contest that."

"Terri Hollis seemed willing to do so."

"And her actions are none of my concern. I am neither her keeper nor her conscience."

"She is associated with you and your people."

"Marginally." Victor paused. "A peace offering, then. I offer this bit of information to you: I wish to disassociate myself from Terri."

Laura's eyebrows rose. "You do?"

"Yes. Her loyalty to me is questionable. So if you have any wish to move against her, I will not stop you or attempt to rescue her."

"All right," Laura said in a less angry tone. "Can you at least tell me why these two are here? And are there more I don't know about yet?"

"All I can tell you is that today is a very crucial day for me. I do not wish interference from the Harbingers."

Laura's lips curled into a smug smile. "Proving too much for you, are they?"

"No," Victor said, though his fingers laced together tighter. "But I would underestimate them at my own peril."

Laura's smile turned sly. "I have already struck a blow at them. I will have Heather as my slave starting next week."

"I will take your word for it that this is an achievement."

"My point is that I have helped you. I will have Heather entertain me tonight at the party. That is one less Harbinger for you to deal with."

Victor remained impassive. "And what is this to me?"

Fury flashed in Laura's eyes. "You could show some appreciation."

"You wish compensation?"

Laura hesitated. In those moments, she entertained the notion that perhaps she had been wrong, that the two women had been part of the staff all along and she had simply forgotten about it.

In the time it took her to consider apologizing for the mix-up and excusing herself, the thought had vanished, ejected from her mind before it could take root.

"No," said Laura in a lower voice. "I doubt you would be inclined to give it even if I asked. I simply want the courtesy of being informed when you make changes to my staff."

Laura tried not to appear deflated. Compensation was exactly what had been on her mind when she had first entered the room. She could have taken what had just happened as a sign that he could not alter her perceptions with the same ease as the others, but it was the first time anyone had succeeded in getting into her head since Nyssa.

"I don't want to fight you, Victor," said Laura in a lower voice. "It should be obvious to you by now that there would be no guaranteed winner."

Victor allowed himself a moment of contemplation. "Perhaps," he said in a cautious tone. "It depends on what each of us is willing to risk. And I do not believe you for a moment when you say you wished no compensation."

Laura chose not to respond. She sensed a small crack in his veneer. He must be worried about something, or he would not have brought in more people with abilities like his own.

"Would you be content with information in payment for my temporary augmentation to your staff?" said Victor.

Laura folded her arms. "What kind of information?"

"Information on one of the Harbingers that may assist you in influencing that person at a later date."

"Which one?"

"Melinda Sovert."

Laura raised an eyebrow. "She is a bit young for my tastes. Not nearly as sexy as Heather. Though I do admit to noticing her tits have filled out a bit since the semester started."

Victor steepled his fingers. "Melinda has a weakness you may be able to exploit. Something my associates left in her recently: an attraction to older women."

Laura's lips curled into a wicked smile. "How much of an attraction?"

"You would have to use it as a stepping stone rather than a trigger. Affection for you will not simply pop into existence, especially considering how she must feel about you if what you say about your enslavement of her sister is true."

Laura nodded. She was not thinking in terms of sexual conquest. Not yet. But it would be another means of undermining the Harbingers.

"But it is not in her control," Victor said. "She will not be able to will it away even if she suspects it was placed there. The Harbingers do not understand all the subtleties of my power."

"At least now you admit you have some sort of power that's different than my own."

"I admit nothing more than you have not already deduced in your dealings with Terri. But that is all I will tell you."

Laura looked at his face and realized that his last statement was a dismissal, a permanent one. He did not want her to talk to him again. She considered yielding some information to him in return, such as his incomplete influence over Seeger. She decided she had not been compensated enough for that. "Then I will no longer bother you," she said with a sly smile. "Good day, Victor."

She opened the door behind her and stepped out as quickly as she had entered.

"Fuck," Ned blurted.

Cassie had just told him what had transpired with Gina and Stephanie as they sat in the back of the limo headed towards the school. "In reaction to what part?" she asked.

"All of it. Damn. Yer power is freakin' amazin'."

Cassie smiled. It was hard not to be a little proud of her abilities now.

"Ya really wanna help Stephanie?" Ned said. "Do ya think ya can?"

"I'm not sure, Ned. She was really adamant about me not even trying. But I'm going to need her help just to keep Gina out of Victor's hands."

"But how can she if she can't go through the door herself?"

"Distances don't mean anything in the Dreamverse. I think I can link them directly by making a door that opens right from Stephanie's mind to Gina's. Or at least across a really small gap."

"Somethin' I don't get, though," Ned said. "She said that if she left it would be like takin' her soul outta her body. How come you can do it?"

Cassie had not wanted to dwell on that. She did not relish the idea that she left an empty husk in her bed every time she entered the Dreamverse. "What I do might be some sort of astral projection. At least I hope it is."

"Sorry, babe, mebbe I shouldn't've brought it up, with how ya was worried 'bout losin' yerself or dyin'."

Cassie shook her head. "That was when I was worried that I was contacting the dead. But there's something else I'm worried about, Ned, that makes me wish I could help Stephanie." She trembled for a moment. "I may be jumping at shadows, but it was what I saw around Stephanie's cage."

"What was it?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Just a big void, like she was suspended in the middle of a great blackness."

"I take it that's not normal, huh?"

"Not when she first started contacting me. It was dark, yes, but there was a floor under the cage, walls like a dungeon cell, and a ceiling. This was nothingness."

"Babe, yer spookin' me here, ya know."

Cassie gave him a stricken look. "No more than I already am!"

"So what's it mean?"

Cassie stared straight ahead, her eyes wide and unfocused. "I don't know. But whenever I think about it, I get really scared for her."

Jason's group arrived at the school first. Diane appeared a minute later and stood to the side, letting her book bag dangle near the ground so she could hold her hands folded before her in a proper show of quiet submission. Only a minute after that, Cassie's limo drove up.

"There they are!" Melinda said, pointing.

"Thanks for the news-flash, runt," said Heather.

Jason glanced in their direction, then looked towards the school.

Cassie and Ned rushed up to them. "Man, does she have a buttload to tell ya all about Gina and Stephanie."

"I don't think we'll have time for that now, Ned," said Cassie.

Jason was still staring at the school. His eyes swam in and out of focus.

"Yeah, I guess yer right," Ned said. "We gotta come up with a game plan ta get through the Day of Hell. Right, old hoss?"

Jason didn't respond. He was still staring, his face slowly twisting into a frown.

Ned raised an eyebrow and looked towards the school. "Whatsamatter, kemosabe? Something up with Seeger?"

Richie narrowed his eyes and looked as well. Seeger was standing at the top of the steps, scowling at the students as they passed. "He's got an extra few layers of ugly on his face today," Richie drawled. "Same as any Halloween."

"Jason?" Melinda said, stepping up to him. "Jason!"

Jason blinked rapidly and turned to face the others. "Something's wrong."

"Um, dude?" said Ned. "Ya wanna be a li'l more specific?"

"And it better be that the school is on fire or something else simple like that!" Melinda said.

Richie snorted. "Yeah, I wish."

"I'm seeing something strange when I look at the school," Jason said. "I have to really stare at it to see it."

"What, an Aura?!" Melinda said in alarm.

"How can a building have a fucking Aura?" Richie snapped.

Melinda stuck her tongue out at him. "I don't see anything anyway."

"No, not an Aura," Jason said. "It's really faint, but I can see energy patterns like the ones that accompany Victor's power."

"Yer seein' Victor, of course, right?" Ned said. "He's prolly already in the school building."

Melinda looked stricken when Jason shook his head. "No, it's more energy than I think he could produce. Or at least it wouldn't be that spread out."

"Ms. Hollis, then."

"Ned, if it had been from them, I would have seen it before now. Just the two of them aren't enough to see from this distance."

Melinda was the first to react after a few seconds of heavy silence. "Aw, shit. Shit!"

"What?" Richie demanded.

"Victor's got his cult here, you dumbass!" Melinda shouted.

"Melinda, keep your voice down!" Heather hissed.

"Fuck you, Heather! Who cares who knows about it now? Everything is totally fucked anyway!"

"Melinda, calm down," Cassie said in a firm but quavering voice. "Please, getting hysterical about it is not going to help."

Ned glanced towards the school. "Um, yeah, ya better keep it down, old Seeger's givin' us the evil eye."

Richie tilted his head. "Nah, that ain't his evil eye. I oughta know."

"Okay, then what is it? Interested in our stimulatin' conversation?"

"All right, stop it, everyone," Jason declared. "Stop panicking, otherwise--"

He trailed off when Melinda appeared before him, her eyes shining. "Please don't let me go through that again," she said in a small, shrill voice. Tears leaked down her cheeks. "Please, n-not again."