Fervor (14 page)

Sam was pretty certain, however, that he and Fiona, thanks to Sarah’s help, had fairly formidable walls, as they approached the halfway mark of their second year since being introduced to the connection. As long as Sam maintained his focus, Francis had no chance of stealing a glimpse at his innermost thoughts, and he would not allow any lingering doubts about Elliot to rise to the surface, including his worries that Elliot had gotten caught, and was no longer there to help them.

Nathan had a completely different approach when he noticed Fiona and the Littles appearing to be glum. He would find other means of trying to cheer them. He would tell them any interesting stories about his travels on the circuit, or he would tease at them in a playful way, often resorting to gentle rough-housing with Sam or Fiona. As much as Sarah might have enjoyed similar play, Nathan was clearly reluctant to include her. Sam suspected that Nathan was put off by her obvious frailty, concerned that he might prove to be more rough than she could handle, and particularly afraid that he might in some way harm their Fixer. After all, if someone broke their Fixer, who would fix her?

Sam put that question to Francis once, wondering what would become of their house-family, if Sarah became ill or injured, and could not fix herself, or worse yet, someone died and ended up beyond any hope of being fixed, leaving them short-handed. Francis wouldn’t answer his second question, although Sam suspected that there was something to cover this possibility within the Directives, but he explained that if Sarah needed fixing, that they would have to seek out another family’s Fixer for assistance. The other family wouldn’t be able to refuse them, since the rules made it clear that their first obligation was to their talent group and not to their house-family. If someone else needed Sarah’s fixing skills, for example, she would have to go with them, even if it meant her house-family would be short a Fixer temporarily.

As the end of their second year together approached, and Royce made himself more and more scarce on a daily basis, a second large storm struck, one as violent as the one that had carried Elliot’s first message to them. After the storm had passed, and Sam and Nathan were allowed their freedom again, the antsy pair bounded out of the house as fast as their legs would carry them. Nathan disappeared into the woods, while the smaller boy made his way down to the beach.

Despite his excitement, he was much more cautious than he had been the time that his close call with Royce had occurred, and even though the finding itch burned within him like an overheating hover, he paced himself. Watching for the Control as much as looking for any potential signs from Elliot, he padded gently down the shore.

He had been searching for several minutes when Sam caught the glimpse of bright orange out of the corner of his eye at almost the same time as he also noticed Royce and his cohorts mingling in the same area. Feeling impatient, but not prepared to make the same mistake that he had last time, Sam backed away a little, crouching behind some seaweed covered rocks. Locating Sarah in the connection, the small boy reached out and knocked. After a few seconds, she opened her mental door to him.

“
I’m pretty sure that I’ve found another message from Elliot,”
he informed her.
“Or, at least, it looks like it could be a similar container from here.”

“
What are you waiting for then. Get it and bring it home. Fiona and I are as anxious to see it as you are. We’ve been waiting for this for so long,”
she exclaimed exuberantly.

“
There’s a problem with that,”
Sam explained
. “The same problem that there was the last time, and I don’t want to find myself in the same sort of trouble.”

He wished at that point in time, more than he had in the last couple of years, that he could hear again, so that he could eavesdrop on the gathered Bigs’ conversation. That was when it struck him that none of the five that he was trying to avoid were a part of the connection. That meant that they were all Controls. Francis had never mentioned the Controls having to meet the way that the Tellers did. Besides, when the Tellers met, they all travelled to the Hub to make it easier on them to communicate – all fifty Tellers on the island. But this? This was no convening of a talent group. There were only a handful of the Controls present.

“
We need a way to distract them, to draw them away,”
Sarah sighed.
“I wish that we could bring Nathan on board. If we had his help, this would be so much easier.”

“
You know we can’t do that, Sarah,”
Sam reminded her.
“He’s a Watcher. As much as he would never purposefully do anything to ruin our plans, if our theory is right, he would do it without meaning to.”

“
I could try sending Fiona. Royce doesn’t like her, but he has never done anything to threaten her. You could go together, and she could pretend that she was helping you to retrieve something. With the pair of you there, they are more likely to scatter than to confront you both,”
she offered.

“
Is Francis there, too?”
he asked.

“
Yes. Why?”
she responded.

“
I don’t want you there alone. Something’s going on with the Controls. They aren’t bound to follow the rules the way that we are, and you would never be able to tell that one of them was there if they decided to go after you, not until it was too late. The four that Royce has been meeting with are all Controls. They’re plotting something, and we don’t know how many of them are involved. If Francis is there, though, I won’t worry as much. Send Fiona. I really want to get that message.”
Sam peered over the top of the rocks. The Controls hadn’t moved.

“
I do, too,”
Sarah agreed.
“She’ll be there in a few minutes. Do what you have to do to get it. This could be important.”

Sam tried to keep still and quiet while he waited for Fiona, desperate to get a hold of the message, but also filled with dread that he might be spotted. He traced Fiona’s progress with his mind, just to remind himself why he should be patient, and to calm his racing heart and overall eagerness. The few minutes it took her to track him down felt like hours to the enthusiastic boy, and when he was certain that she was almost there, he turned and ran down the beach to join her.

Sarah had guessed right. The moment Fiona and Sam strolled into the area, Royce and the others dispersed, disappearing from view. Sam exhaled deeply, as he had been holding his breath almost the entire time that they had been walking the short stretch together, while anticipating the worst. Checking over his shoulder to make sure that they were not being watched, Sam crouched where the small orange box had been washed up onto the beach. It was not a matter of struggling to pull it free this time. It lay tangled in a mound of loose seaweed, and yielded easily to his small fingers.

Gleefully, Sam and Fiona rushed back with their new prize in hand, but they were so caught up in celebrating their success with Sarah, that they did not notice Nathan ahead of them until it was too late. They pulled up short, only several metres away from the house, as the larger boy approached them.

“
Hey! Where are you going in such a hurry? What have you got there?”
he asked, while wearing his friendly lop-sided smile.

Sam and Fiona froze. With a nervous look at her small companion, Fiona answered him. She couldn’t lie, but she could limit what she told him. She would, however, have to make it convincing, or even someone as trusting as Nathan would start to wonder what exactly was going on.

“
Just something that washed up on the beach. Sam thought that Sarah and I would like it.”

Nathan laughed, with a glimmer in his eyes. He reached over and flicked the Little’s chin.

“
Spoiling the ladies now are we, little buddy? How am I supposed to compete with someone who’s both cute and generous? What is it – some sort of jewellery box?”

Sam raised his eyebrows, unsure how to answer without giving too much away. Thankfully, Fiona could think faster on her feet.

“
I’m not sure what type of box it is, but it is brightly coloured, and cute in its own way, just like Sam here. I’m sure it could have a variety of uses, if we think on it a bit. I would say we could count it as another one of his wondrous finds,”
she stated with a grin.

“
Well then, I guess I best return to my circuit. Maybe I’ll get lucky and stumble upon something that will impress our girls more than your gift did. Of course, you, Mister Finder, have a real advantage over me,”
Nathan chuckled on the inside. Then, after mussing Sam’s hair the way that he often did, their Watcher strode off into the woods.

The two relaxed and Sam slid the box into his pocket. They didn’t want to repeat a similar scene with Francis when they entered the house.

“
He’s gone,”
Fiona remarked.
“But that doesn’t mean this is over. If Sarah’s right, then they may know about this, and what does that mean for us?”

“
Your guess is as good as mine. If they are using him as their eyes, only time will tell what they intend on doing about this. At least he didn’t get to see what was inside it.”

With another glance in the direction that Nathan had headed off in, the two turned and walked into the house.

Dissidence

Sarah, Fiona, and Sam gathered around the newest message in Fiona’s room, counting on the fact that Francis was much less likely to interrupt them in there. He had taken to avoiding the older girl whenever he could after months of trying to re-establish any friendship that had been developing between them, but failing to meet this objective. He had not let her cold shoulder put him off at first, treading lightly around her, but remaining persistent. Eventually he had become discouraged and had given up any efforts at reconciliation.

The three used the same tactics at getting the small box open as they had the first time that they had received a message from Elliot. This time the note did not bear anyone’s name. It was addressed to S, S, and F., but the hand-writing looked familiar, and the letter was much longer this time around. Fiona read it to the two Littles.

“
I’m sorry for the length of time that it has taken me to get back to you, but it was necessary, I assure you. I had the opportunity to accept a transfer that took me temporarily away from the coast, but brought me much closer to an item that I hope will someday allow me to bring you your freedom. It is one that the scholars were having some of the technicians construct for them. This innovative magical device is something to help deal with some of the troublesome side-effects associated with the connection. It has other abilities, with the right magic to fuel it, but I will have to do some more investigating before I will know the full extent of its many functions.”

“
A magical device? I wonder what he meant by troublesome side effects,”
Sarah mused.

“
There’s more,”
Fiona told them, raising the paper before her.
“It also says that this has strengthened his belief that he will be able to assist us in righting the wrongs that have been done to us, but that he still has much more to uncover, and many more obstacles to overcome before he will be prepared to go the distance. He writes that the device is well guarded, and that he will have great difficulty coming up with a means of liberating it in order to bring it to us. He says that he has no one there that he is sure that he can trust, so he is forced to work alone, but he will keep working on our behalf. He goes on to mention that it may take him a fair amount of time, but he will continue to send us messages when he can, to keep us updated.”
She paused, biting her lip in her typical nervous fashion.

“
I’m just happy that nothing bad happened to him,”
Sam sighed.
“I was ready to give up on ever hearing from him again – to concede to this fate that has been thrust upon us.”