Fervor (41 page)

The two Littles stared at the Watcher expectantly, but Nathan did not offer any sort of response, still contemplating their circumstances. Royce groaned, trying to follow the conversation, but unpleasantly distracted.

“
There’s more,”
Sam added.
“Royce wasn’t sure how safe he would be, so he didn’t come alone. Others have been exposed to the Languorite as well, the Controls that he always hung around with. When we’re done helping Royce to whatever extent we can, Sarah and I have to go find them, too. It would probably be best if we bring them back here when we find them.”

“
So what you are telling me is that not only are you asking me to let him back into the house, you want me to make allowances for the other trouble-makers in his little band. Are you both out of your minds?”
Nathan exclaimed, never having anticipated these kinds of demands from Sam and Sarah.

Elliot appeared in the doorway beside him. He had picked up on the conversation and glanced down at the three on the steps with a slight frown. He recognized Royce from their encounter at the school.

“
So your wayward Control’s come home, has he? In more ways than one, too, I see. Perhaps the latest events have not been a complete loss then.”

Sam suspected the technician was referring to what had happened with Francis. Did Elliot actually feel bad about that? Perhaps even partially to blame by showing up in the first place?

“
Bringing in his friends is not exactly a bad idea. They’ve proven their willingness to rebel against the Directives. I would think that we can recruit them safely to our cause. I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity. The more we have willing to join us, the more we can uproot what the scholars have put in place. I had thought I would just have to satisfy myself with assisting your house-family, but if I have others who are willing, and more resources than I was expecting...”

Sarah did not allow the burly man to finish his thought.

“
I’m going with Sam to find them, with or without your approval, Nathan. I have to fix what I can. It will be less risky for all of us if we can bring them back here. They’ve probably all headed back to their own spaces by this point, and if the effects have set in, they may be sprawled somewhere in the dark, just like Royce was. We need to find them as quickly as possible, or who knows what will happen to them. Royce and his friends are the first ones to go through both things at the same time. It could be bad.”

Royce was huddled against her at this point, relishing the relief her touch was bringing, no matter how insignificant. He was also listening as attentively as he could to Sam’s instructions on constructing his own walls. The Control would need something in place before Sam and Sarah could set off to retrieve the others, and he wanted to facilitate that as quickly as possible, worried about how his companions were faring in the face of their agony and their chaos.

Nathan relaxed a little and his look softened, his resistance beginning to subside.

“
Well, if you are going, I insist that you take me with you. Poor Sam here has endured enough, trekking out to the High Barrens and back, and then dragging that great lout back here when he was probably exhausted. Sam can find them, you can start fixing them, and I’ll bring them back. My only problem is leaving him here in the house without me being here.”
He gestured towards Royce.
“Fiona still hasn’t gotten over what hap-pened with Francis yet. She’ll probably get upset and lock herself in her room again, and we can’t afford to spend several days trying to convince her to come out. We’ve wasted enough time already. We should be long gone from this wretched island by now.”

“
Get him up into my room...his room. I guess it doesn’t really matter whose it is now,” Elliot muttered. “I’ll keep an eye on him, keep him away from Fiona, and it will give us a chance to chat. Your old Control here suggested he knew more than I might have suspected when we ran into him at the school, I think we have a great deal to discuss.”

Sam was not sure, but from this statement alone, he got the hunch that Elliot had been more annoyed with the Finder heading off to the High Barrens, not because it had delayed their departure, but more because Elliot hadn’t been invited to accompany him. He was searching for something, Sam guessed, and not just a means of getting some of the children of Fervor off of the island; he was already in the process of doing that.

“
Besides,” Elliot continued, “it’s not like he’ll be going anywhere fast, or be able to cause us any real trouble in his current condition.”

Nathan seemed agreeable to that. He jogged down the stairs and grasped Royce by the shoulders. Yanking him gracelessly to his feet, the Watcher manoeuvred into a position of support and helped Royce hobble up into the house. The others followed the pair into Elliot’s room.

“
I never thought I’d come back here,”
Royce said, as Nathan lowered him to the bed. He stared at Sam as he thought this, and the Finder figured that this was as close to an apology or a thank you as he would ever be getting from the Control. Sam was fairly certain that that had been Royce’s intention, and that was good enough to settle things. It wouldn’t make up for what had happened – Sam wasn’t sure anything would – but it would allow them a truce for whatever length of time one would be needed.

Sam spent a few more moments making sure Royce’s walls were secure. They were stronger than Elliot’s were from the very beginning. In fact Royce was stronger overall in the connection at this point, possibly rivalling Nathan. There was not that much of a difference in telepathic ability between Sam and the Control, but apparently it had been enough to justify the scholars’ efforts in creating the Littles.

“
You can rest now. We’ll go fetch your friends, but we need names and descriptions…something to help Sam locate them,” Nathan stated.

Still cringing and trembling from time to time, despite the fixing that Sarah had provided, Royce started going through the list of the other four Controls. There were the two other boys, Paul and Anthony, who had both been intended to be Finders like Royce. He related their physical descriptions and the location of their House-Families. Paul, from the sounds of things, was the Control of the boy, Julius, whom they had met on their first trip to the school.

Royce followed with the description of the two girls, Angela and Katrina, both slated originally to be Fixers. Sam noticed that Royce lingered on the description of Katrina, offering greater detail than he had with the others.

“
Can you find her first, Sam?” he asked softly. “Please?”

Sam glanced at him with some curiosity. It made no difference to him which of the four that they looked for first, but if it would further increase Royce’s gratitude, then he could see some benefit in complying with his wishes.

“
Sure, Katrina first,” Sam agreed.

And with that, Sam, Sarah and Nathan departed to retrieve the other Controls, leaving Royce and Elliot to their discussions.

Insurrection

Sam, Sarah, and Nathan did manage to recover the other four Controls before any real damage appeared to have been done. Sam gave up his room to the two girls, bunking in with Sarah instead, and the two boys took Francis’s room, which was now vacant. Royce remained with Elliot, and the two seemed to be very friendly, spending a lot of time in exclusive conversation. It made Sam a little nervous, and he desperately wanted to know what they were saying. He had learned his lesson with Francis, however, and he did not pry. It would have been easy for him, but it certainly would not have felt right.

They spent the next day further dealing with their transitions with Sarah’s assistance. They seemed to be coping sufficiently, and Sam stopped worrying about consequences similar to what had happened with the Bigs’ parents. The Finder wondered if the Bigs’ parents had had someone who could understand how to shield them and to help them construct their walls, could that tragedy have been avoided – or would there still have been those who would have ended up like Francis? They would never know. The theory was long past testing.

Elliot, Nathan, and Fiona went out for another round of lessons on how to activate and guide the hover. Elliot felt that with one more day of instruction, and a quick outing the following day, they would be ready to go. They were all excited by this notion, looking forward to the opportunity to escape the island and discover the real world of the mainland. In the meantime, the technician was also hopeful that the Controls would start adapting better to their changes.

As usual, Sam could not fend off the compulsion to find, but Sarah and Royce asked him if he could make proper use of the inclination and go to gather a list of items that Royce and the Controls had left behind at the school. That told him that Royce and the Controls had no intention of returning there – they had come back to the house to stay. Not that it made any difference. Sam’s house-family would be leaving soon enough anyway, and abandoning the house to disuse if no one else were to live in it. It meant that Royce and the others would have to handle any scholars or their lackeys who happened to come snooping around because of the loss of Nathan as their eyes, or because Francis failed to report in to the next Teller meeting. Chaos would be erupting soon enough on this part of Fervor. It likely did not matter where the Controls chose to call home.

Sam made it to the school without interruption and scrambled about gathering everything on the list. It was a lengthy one, and in a way, Sam felt as though he were salvaging the last year of Royce’s life. In amongst the requested items were things that had obviously not come from the school, including items of clothing that Royce had not left his old home with. There were even a couple of items Sam was fairly certain had come from their own house, even though Nathan had tossed the Control out empty handed. It made Sam feel justified that he had never believed himself safe after Royce had left, but now...

Sam paused in his finding, shaken by how much things had changed in the last couple of weeks. The thought hung heavy in his heart and he found himself sitting down quickly. First there was Elliot’s arrival, and then all of the changes, followed by the hope of eventual escape, and then the loss of Francis. And now there was the entire affair with the Controls. He sat for a moment with his head on his knees, breathing deeply and trying to wish everything away. It did not work, and gradually he managed to steady himself again, returning to his list.

Sam plodded his way back to the house once he was done while keeping off all the established paths and making sure that nobody spotted him. He thought it possible that there might be someone out looking for one of the missing Controls, although, if their relationships with their house-families bore any resemblance to that of Royce’s with his, they would not be worrying about their disappearance just yet. They may have headed out for more than a day at a time in the past just as Royce used to do, and their Tellers had possibly dissuaded their house-family’s interference with their Control, just as Francis once had as well.

Nathan, Fiona, and Elliot had already returned when Sam arrived home, since he had been gone the better part of the day.

“
Elliot says we leave tomorrow,”
Nathan announced, as Sam strolled through the door.
“You should pack your things and be ready. We’ll be making one more run in the morning, just to be sure Fiona and I are ready, and then we finally get to head for the mainland.”

The Watcher grinned broadly as he thought these words. He had probably felt the burden of their precarious position due to the threat of investigating scholars more than anyone else, still having a natural protective streak despite the departure of his gift. He was all too aware that if they did not leave soon, it could be disastrous.