The Misborn V: Priscilla

By L. V. MacLean

Their enemies are organizing around a leader, and growing much more violent. To have any chance of defeating them, Jared must bring together the psi talents of all his friends and family, including members of all four Alliance species and people from three extra-dimensional races, two entities in robotic bodies, and one in the body of the most ferocious predator on the planet. And in his spare time, he must deal with his wife's grandfather, who has an evil temper and ambitions of his own, and he promised to teach his neighbor's daughter to drive. What could be easier?

• Language: English
• Publisher: L. V. MacLean
• Release date: Nov 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370363940

L. V. MacLean

I come from a long line of story tellers and journalists, and I worked as a local journalist for years. That was fun, but my first love is fiction. Home is the eastern half of Montana, wheat fields and range land and small towns. I have a husband, two grown children, a lively grandson, and a superior cat. What more could anyone want? Just a laptop with a word processing program!

Book preview

Chapter 1

Maud

The young man who lived in 1B was just coming out of the back door of the apartment building on 43rd Street with his grimisa on a leash for an afternoon walk. He saw Maud with her bag of groceries and paused to hold the door for her. Nice day, he said, and the grimisa, which had black and orange stripes and tusk-like fangs, lifted his head to sniff the bottom of her bag. He liked the smell – probably the doughnuts, Maud thought; he put his big paw possessively on the side of the bag and stood up on his hind feet. This made him slightly over waist-high on Maud. No, get down, Hamilton, said his owner, and Hamilton dropped down again with visible reluctance.

Maud was wary of wild animals, but in the city there was only one sort of animal of which she was really afraid, and it wasn't a black and orange grimisa. She patted Hamilton on the head, between his big rounded ears, and smiled politely at the young man. She was familiar with him, in a manner of speaking; she had exchanged greetings with all of her neighbors, including the fellow in 2A, who did something with his screens, of which he had at least a dozen casting a glow against darkened windows on a quiet night. He never left his apartment except for necessary errands and long solitary walks, both accomplished after dark – like a vampire, said Cara; she and Jared collected such folk tales and superstitions.

Maud didn't bother him or her other neighbors, on the theory that if she didn't bother them they wouldn't bother her. She had been here, more or less, for a year. It seemed to be working.

She didn't summon the lift; she ran up the stairs, because a woman at her time in life needed the exercise, and let herself into 2B, just above this vampire. It had been Lt. Price's apartment when she had first seen it, minimally furnished and entirely undecorated. Maud had at least improved upon that; there were paintings, framed holos, decent furniture, flowers, even a vid player, although she seldom used it.

It amused her sometimes; it was a long way from her penthouse, in the days when she had been Maud Clipper, one of the movers and shakers of Bridgeton, backed by the fortune made by her late husband. Now she was just Maud Carter, back to her maiden name, you might say, living quietly in a one-bedroom apartment. There were people in Bridgeton who remembered Maud Clipper; she saw them now and then, had narrowly missed running into a group of old acquaintances at the Manders gallery when she went to see Nelson's exhibition there last fall, although she had avoided the opening night.

They didn't see her. They knew she was dead, three years ago last May, as a matter of fact; they didn't recognize her, although she had not changed. She even had her favorite silk shirts – she and Denieal had made off with them when Jared had them packed up for the second-hand store – and she had her jewelry. Jared hadn't been able to deal with her jewelry. He used to tease her about making love wearing nothing but her diamonds. So he had gladly accepted Denieal's offer to take them to the jeweler to be evaluated and put up for sale, and he had asked no questions about the sum Denieal had produced and deposited to the estate accounts.

She had stored all these things in the space between this world and the other, where material things could be left for periods of time, and now she had them in her little apartment along with less important possessions. Jared being Jared, he had recognized her earrings and her favorite long white winter coat and commented on their familiarity; she had laughed and patted his hand and changed the subject.

She wasn't surprised that her former acquaintances hadn't recognized her; sometimes she wasn't sure she recognized herself. She had not expected to find herself living here, a few blocks from her daughter and her son-in-law and her nephew, spending an inordinate amount of time on tame domestic matters, including, even more amazing, four grandchildren. She had planned for them, the ancient gods knew, worked for them, but she had never expected to be involved with them.

She dumped her groceries into the food keeper and tossed the bag into the garbage chute under the sink and got out her favorite coffee mug, a Solstice gift from Gina, who seemed to know that Maud would appreciate a handmade one-of-a-kind thing from the Artists Fair. Maud filled it from the coffee maker and kicked off her shoes and sat down by the breakfast bar with her noter to look over her to-do list, speaking of tame domestic matters. The party was day after tomorrow.

She had two of the presents in the back of her closet, but the trike hadn't been in stock; they promised it would be delivered by tomorrow at the latest, but she had little faith in promises from stores. She should call them, and she should wrap the other presents, and she should check with Cara to see if she needed a hand. She should also check with Ann, who was keeping track of the presents and had most of them hidden somewhere in her house, but Ann was in the throes of party organizing and it wasn't safe to be around Ann at such times.

Well, she would call the store, anyway; she got her phone out of her pocket, but just as she called up the directory the door chimed, probably Lt. Price, who had said something about dropping by to hide with Maud's presents the gifts she had bought; her thumb print was on the lock, but she was either being polite, waiting for an invitation to enter, or she had her hands full. Maud closed up her phone and got up from the stool and the door chimed again, more urgently, and someone outside began knocking, hard, rapid knocks.

Maud took a look at the scanner screen; things had been quiet since last summer, but no one thought that was going to last, and they were all a little paranoid. It wasn't a sinister stranger, though; the scanner showed her a mid-sized black man with a little beard, slightly overdressed in a short-sleeved shirt and tie, appearing entirely Earthian, in no way as alien as he really was. He looked like a fugitive professor, she thought, and she opened the door, catching him mid-knock. Logan, she greeted him, looking at his upraised fist, and he looked at her and his fist and hastily put his hand behind his back.

Excuse me, he said. I was very anxious; you were gone when I was here earlier.

Well, I'm back, said Maud, and stood aside to let him in. Sit down. Coffee? Logan didn't need to eat or drink anything, but the sensors Willis had installed in this mechanical body were outstanding, and he loved the many sensations this universe offered his tongue and nose. He followed her to the breakfast bar and sat down on her stool and she poured coffee into the red cup and passed it to him and sat down on the stool on the kitchen side. So, what are you anxious about? she asked him.

He drank deeply, his face showing pleasure. It was not a revealing face; not belonging to his natural body, since he didn't have a natural body in this universe, it did not necessarily reflect his emotions. And his emotions were not necessarily the same as those of the Alliance species. But as he became more adept in using the body he had acquired a few mannerisms, body language, said Jared, who was very good at reading that in almost anyone, and Maud knew Logan very well now, certainly enough to read what expressions he did show.

Yes, this is very good, thank you, he said. I'm here because I have news. Very good news, I think, and I wanted first to share it with you, and our special friends. So we can bring it to Dr. Ramirez when we are sure of it; it will be a very nice surprise for him.

In other words, he wanted to tell his news to her and Lt. Price, Nelson and Sandy, before he told Jared. This meant that he wasn't positive it was going to work out, and he wanted their help, a very understandable point of view. Jared had many things to do. He had his family; he had his work on the arches from Or2, the miserable portals that had started all of this trouble; they were recording and studying the schematics on the inside of the arches, comparing and trying to translate them into something they could handle. He was keeping the Azuri/zai committee pacified while coaxing his people to find ways to use these schematics to close and lock those portals with a minimum of risk. He was working with Logan, trying, Maud knew, to get a picture of the society which had produced him. He was doing the same with Grace. He was also involved in the group efforts to home school Gina, who was happily plowing through sixth level work and expecting to graduate from secondary at the ripe old age of sixteen, next spring, and Lalia's son Brett, who was probably going to test out of both elementary and the first level of secondary at the same time. So it was considerate of Logan to avoid dumping a new problem on him, to come to Maud, instead, for help in putting things in order first.

Their little circle had been useful last year, Maud felt, in rounding up troublemakers and their weapons all on their own, without demanding any help from Jared. As a matter of fact, they had managed to keep from him most of the details about the semi-debacle that had ended in the north side explosion last summer. It had rid Bridgeton of a group of what Logan called the Defenders, had bought them this year of uneasy quiet, so it had ended well, on the whole, but there were aspects of that affair she would be quite happy if Jared never knew – the night when the five of them shot up the Leaning Tree Night Club, for instance.

Yes, there were many occasions when they were best off working on their own, on the excellent principle that what Jared didn't know couldn't hurt him. All right, she said to Logan, and what is this surprise?

You are aware that I've been in contact with others of my people. It has been more difficult since I have moved into this body; it takes much energy to use it properly. Do you find that? he asked, casting a look at her and her body in the armchair.

This is the body I was born with, said Maud, trying again to find words that would give this other life form some understanding of her and her people without revealing too much. It manifests differently in different dimensions; this is how it's designed. I don't use any special energy to make it work. This was not entirely true, but it was not her personal energy at work. The truth about this energy source was not a matter to be discussed with anyone, certainly not with Logan. It isn't like yours; it didn't start out as a robot body. I can see how that would be more difficult.

A very efficient body, however, said Logan, looking with some complacency at his bare black arms. Willis adapted it very well to my purposes. The other bodies will be equally efficient; this is what I have told my people.

But they aren't lining up to claim these bodies, are they, said Maud. Logan had made periodic efforts to connect with the others of his species who had come to Haivran with him. He had expected to be in mental contact with at least some of them, but he was only partially successful in this. Jared said it was often connected with physical distance; he didn't know why, but he knew it was so, of his own experience. So this might have hampered Logan, and his attempts to find and speak with his people in person had not been very successful either. And of those he had contacted, not one of them showed any enthusiasm about joining him in negotiations with the Azuri/zai representatives. Their opinion seemed to be that if such negotiations were required, Logan, already on the spot, so to speak, could do it for all of them.

They felt, she thought, with the arrogance of their species and their social caste, that they could do it all that was required by themselves without reference to the species already occupying this plane, even if this world and this universe was not theirs, not one in which they were comfortable or competent. Logan, she thought, felt a little of this himself. His experiences in Sandy's borrowed body, and his experiences in his independent robotic body had taught him a great deal, but he was not entirely convinced yet.

And so he wasn't able to convince his people; she thought that was the bottom line.

But things were, it seemed, changing. One of my people, he explained. You have met her. Last year, you and Lt. Price, and now at last she is seriously thinking about our proposals, about coming to Bridgeton herself, to see what is happening here. I believe she will be very surprised, very happy, and will be glad to stay and talk with Dr. Ramirez and perhaps convince other of our people to come also.

Maud raised her eyebrows over her coffee cup. Coming to join you here? That could be very good news indeed. But – You say we've met her?

During the spring last year, he said. In the forest beyond the Summit. There were four of us there. You will remember this. When the Defenders took Sandy, we thought, this is wrong, and we drove the Defender out of her, and then, because she was sick with the cold and the accident – injured, is that the word? – we thought it was a chance to help her and also to give us the opportunity to see into her world, which we had not been successful at doing in the forest, where there are few people. So I moved into her mind. You know about this. My companions stayed behind in the forest, having found bodies there in which they could function, and I came here in Sandy and remained for some time, until I found it possible to move into a manufactured body. And before I did, you met one of my people in the forest, you and Lt. Price –

That damned treeket, said Maud.

You remember her.

I remember her well. She scared us to death. Lt. Price thought she was going to eat us.

She won't eat you, said Logan, smiling sweetly. She is a very gentle soul, Maud. The other two of my people have moved elsewhere, seeking more information about this world. As I said, there are few people in the forest for us to study. And my friend who you met thinks of coming here to assist me, since with two of us we may see and understand more. Two, uh, four eyes. Two ways of looking. She thinks of coming back with us to Bridgeton to be introduced to Dr. Ramirez. I think he will like this.

Maud wasn't afraid of cats and dogs and birds and molekins, like the one Denise had adopted at the Hardesty house, or grimisi, either. They were tame, domesticated. She could understand them to some extent, and she could predict and control them to some extent. Wild animals were another matter. She wasn't afraid of them, precisely, only of what they might, in their unpredictable, uncontrolled wild state, feel inspired to do. Haivran was a world with very few large predators, and not many of them had been known to attack people. Treekets did attack people, people who wandered into what they considered their territory, people who interfered, however unintentionally, with their mating or seemed to threaten their young. Sometimes, for all Maud knew, they attacked people as the D'ubian dolmeta was said to do, because the creature was in a bad mood and the people were there. Treekets were good-sized, and possessed long claws and sharp teeth and could move through trees and on the ground with eerie speed, swinging on their long tails or galloping on all fours, on their vaguely Earthian hands and feet.

Maud felt strongly that treekets ought to be approached with extreme caution and respect; in fact she was inclined to think they shouldn't be approached at all.

Logan, she said, I don't mean to say your friend isn't a fine and civilized being, but she's a damned treeket!

She's in the body of a treeket, said Logan. This animal is a very fine creature, but of a different order; it is easier to control a treeket than it was to control Sandy. He freely admitted that he had found Sandy very strong-minded, not especially amenable to control, although he had not made any real attempt to dominate her, Maud thought; his handling had been very gentle. This was probably why he and Sandy were still very close. She will control this body; it will not do any harm to any of you. You'll see.

I will?

We will call Lt. Price. When Sandy called me, I explained to her. She called Nelson. He's on the road now from Sandon City. He says he will come here as soon as he arrives and meet us, and we can drive to the Summit at once. Sandy is leaving Miramani this afternoon. She says that her mother is feeling better. So she will be at the Summit waiting for us, and my friend will meet us in the forest there. We will come back together, and tomorrow morning, we will introduce her to Dr. Ramirez. And he will be very pleased.

Maud thought that, at least, would be entertaining, seeing Jared's face as they introduced him to a wild treeket. And it's going to take all five of us to bring her back to Bridgeton? she asked.

Logan shrugged. Well, he said, his favorite expression. She wishes to meet all of you, he said. I've told her what friends we have become.

Ancient gods, murmured Maud, wishing she had decided to spend the day somewhere else. Even back in their places with Oliver's disapproval would be better, not that she cared all that much about Oliver's disapproval – when had he ever approved of her – but he did make things uncomfortable, and she had not felt very friendly toward him since last summer, when she realized exactly whose child Lt. Price was.

If you want to bring her back to Bridgeton, Maud said, persisting, why don't you go and get her? Why do you need all of us?

I don't have a driver's license, he said. "Dr. Ramirez said I was not allowed to drive any of the Azuri/zai vehicles until I have a driver's license.

Maud had been present when Dr. Ramirez said this and more. Logan had run the Verve into the display window of Your Electronic World, hanging it up in the insect repeller, and when he wasn't able to produce a driver's license or an ID cube, the police had taken him into custody. He had called from jail, and they had had to run about very quickly to produce acceptable ID for him – luckily Maud's people had ways of doing this – and Jared and the Drs. Wood had gone down to bail him out. Jared, out of Logan's sight, admitted it was pretty funny, but it was also very risky, and he hadn't been pleased.

So ask Nelson to drive, said Maud.

His car is not functional, said Logan.

Then how is he getting back from Sandon City?

It has to do with the, what do you call it, that makes the car go up. Logan demonstrated with his hand gliding over the breakfast bar. So it doesn't drag on the ground.

The lift. The antigrav lift.

Yes, that. He can drive it, but not well. Willis said he would fix it for him, but Nelson couldn't wait for Willis. He said his stepfather was already getting packed, and he had to get to Sandon City to prevent him from coming here for a visit.

That self-important little show-off twerp, said Maud, the most polite of the things she could have said about Nelson's stepfather, and Logan nodded agreement. When Glenn Clancy came by during the Solstice break, he had tried to show Grace how best to use her robotic motion sensors, causing her to run into the wall by the piano and knock down and break a very nice vase Lillian and Al had bought on their honeymoon. Logan, finding words inadequate, had hit him over the head with a silver tray of hors d'oeuvres. He and Grace had many disagreements, having come from the same universe but as different species, with different social positions and different ambitions, but he never failed to come to her defense in this new world.

So Nelson doesn't think the car can make it up to the Summit, said Maud. What about Lt. Price?

Will she like to meet my friend in a treeket body? With only Sandy and me for protection? asked Logan, who was not without a sense of humor. He had a point. Lt. Price had been very vocal last year about the risks of approaching a live treeket. She was even less enthused than Maud.

Maud, looking into her coffee, could see how this going to be, whether she liked it or not. We should call her anyway, she said finally. If Maud had to go, the rest of them were going to go too; that was for certain. She wasn't going to find herself out in the middle of some untamed wilderness facing a feral animal with no one but Logan behind her.

Lt. Price was out shopping; she was in the toy store in the Cottage Gates shopping mall looking at toy pistols and wondering if a real low-power beam pistol wouldn't be a better choice, an investment in the future, she said. Dear gods, no, said Maud, with a vivid picture of how that would work.

Somewhat disappointed, Lt. Price said she would be there as soon as she got the toy gun gift wrapped, and what was it all about? Maud decided it was wiser not to break the news on the phone that they were going to spend the evening transporting a wild treeket back to Bridgeton; she said they could talk about it when Lt. Price got here.

Chapter 2

Maud

While they were waiting, Maud settled Logan in the living room area with a reader, conscious that this was a skill he needed to work on. It was a children's reader, about the second grade level; she had bought several of them, thinking into the future, and it had many bright pictures and large type and a simple vocabulary. Logan read it, laboring, fingers underlining the words as he went. Grace was working on the fourth grade level now. So much for Logan's claim that her people were incapable of reading.

While he waded through this heavy reading material, Maud checked with the store, where the clerk explained she had no record of Maud purchasing a trike but she would be very happy to take an order now. Yes, they could have it delivered to Maud's apartment tomorrow morning. What is a trike? inquired Logan, taking the excuse to look up from his reader, and Maud explained and refilled his cup. He told her about the red fire truck he had found, with ladders and a siren and lights and a real lift unit, powered by a very small fuel cell. The store had gift wrapped it, and Ann had hidden it with the other presents.

Lt. Price did not appear. After an hour, Maud phoned her, but she didn't answer. She might very well have turned her phone off. She did this sometimes. Maud, thinking of fangs and long claws, changed out of her favorite red silk shirt into her old blue striped shirt. She seldom wore jeans, but perhaps in this situation it would be appropriate. In this situation, body armor might be appropriate, she thought.

Lt. Price still didn't answer her phone, nor did she call. Logan made it through one of the stories in the reader and told Maud about the experiment Patterson was setting up to test the latest notion about a power source to use to work those locks on the Or2 portals. Patterson and Mimi had dreamed up this one, with input from Clyde. Logan didn't think it would work; he described it with mildly patronizing humor.

Sooner or later, you know, they'll come up with something, she said, irritated.

I don't think so, said Logan, smiling. There is no way to work the locks from a distance; they must be there, with all their powers.

She heard Nelson's car before she saw it; it drew her to the east window, in fact, to see it bouncing and dragging into the parking lot behind the apartment building. The trip all the way from Sandon City had apparently done in the collision shield on the back end; when the lift unit cut off momentarily, the rear of the car dropped to the street with a bang, only to rise again when the lift unit came back on. It lifted nicely over the curb; it dropped the rear of the car onto the small strip of lawn, digging divots in the grass as Nelson took the turn a little too tightly. It came up again and then hit the paving in back of 1A's car, and Nelson wrestled it into the parking space beside Maud's car. He is here, said Logan, pleased. Now if Lt. Price comes –

I'll call her again, said Maud, beginning to feel uneasy; she had been out of touch for hours now, and it was not, no matter how you looked at it, a good sign. Maud waved at Nelson through the insect repeller on the window and dug her phone out of her pocket.

Nelson got out of his car, cast an anxious look at the rear end, waved to Maud and Logan, and then stepped back for a better view of the roof of the apartment building. Hi! he called, waving again. What are you doing up there?

Fresh air, sir, said Lt. Price's voice from above them, sounding as if nothing at all unusual was taking place. Very nice afternoon, isn't it.

Lovely, said Nelson. Not too hot. Very mild for this time of year. Are you coming in?

Yes, sir, said Lt. Price, in just a moment.

Oh, hell, said Maud, borrowing Jared's favorite expression, and took the pendant out of the collar of her blue striped shirt. She was good at using the traveler; it just took knowledge of the proper adjustments and control of the mind, as she frequently told Lt. Price; she worked the settings quickly and was on the rooftop before Nelson had left the parking lot. He saw her popping into view and waved again, and she waved back.

Lt. Price was sitting on the ridgepole in her jeans and her white T-shirt, holding her denim jacket on her lap with a bag from Lifestyle Toys, a large package wrapped in electric blue gift paper protruding from the top. She had her pendant in her hand; seeing Maud, she hastily looped the silver chain around her neck and tried to look as if she were sitting here by choice.

How long have you been here? Maud demanded, noting that Lt. Price's fair complexion was a little ruddy. The sun on the roof was hot.

Not long, said Lt. Price in a defensive tone. And I came very close, as you see. I am just above your apartment here.

Maud didn't bother to reply to this; she grabbed Lt. Price's arm and hit the return and felt the passage as a blur, a flash of rosy light as they passed through between and then the cool shelter of her living room, and Logan opening the front door for Nelson. Lt. Price, still in a sitting position, hit the floor with a thud and scrambled up quickly, assuming no one would notice her ungraceful entrance if she were fast enough. I have the pistol, she said to Maud, holding out the bag, and I bought a very nice holster to go with it.

Lovely, said Maud, dropping her traveler back into the collar of her shirt. We'll put it in the closet and take it over with my presents.

Dad sent a present too, said Nelson. It's in the car.

He shouldn't have done that, said Maud, with great sincerity; she would just as soon have no reason to be grateful to Glenn Clancy.

He said, since he was here last year – and I promised to take it, so he wouldn't have to come all the way to Bridgeton to bring it, said Nelson, and the four of them shared a look of perfect understanding. Nelson was very fond of his parents, but he had known from the beginning that it was best to keep them as far from Bridgeton as possible, and Maud agreed. Profoundly.

Lt. Price put her bag into the closet and Maud checked her watch. We should get on the road, she told Logan. When was Sandy going to be at the Summit?

She said about eight, said Logan, unless her mother has another attack.

Who is attacking Sandy's mother? demanded Lt. Price.

No one, said Maud, and nothing but her own bad temper. She thinks she's having a heart attack. From all the stress since her cast-off younger daughter married that animal of a Zamuaon and refused to repudiate him. I think it's indigestion, myself; her sulking probably gave her an ulcer. Even Lewis doesn't think it's heart trouble, and he's closer to her than Sandy is. Maud was not fond of Margaret Owens, and she wasn't all that keen on Sandy's husband, either, although she would never say so to Sandy, or to Logan, which was, in her opinion, the same thing. Sandy's a fool if she lets that woman call the shots, and Sandy is not usually a fool. So she'll be at the Summit at eight, and we should be, too. Do we need anything? We can stop and get sodas and snacks on the way out of town, and have dinner at the Rest And Refresh when we get there.

May I inquire – said Lt. Price, who had not, after all, been briefed.

In the car; we'll talk in the car. We had better get going, said Maud, feeling that it would all go better if they were actually on the road when she explained matters to Lt. Price. She would probably not try to jump out of a moving car, and if she did, Logan and Nelson were there to grab her. Anyone need anything? she asked the group in general, checked for phones, picked up her light jacket and herded them briskly out the door and into the lift. Lt. Price had her denim jacket, and Nelson stopped to get his sweater out of the back seat of the tan car, and his jacket for Logan, who felt heat and cold but didn't care. It was a matter of appearances, Nelson said.

They left Bridgeton in Maud's car, heading south.

The traffic was light and they made good time, bypassing the small towns of Greener and Swissity, pausing in Park long enough to let Lt. Price run into The Frontiersman's Provisions to buy a power booster for her beam pistol, the only weapon she had brought. If they were going to go into danger, she said, into the wilderness to deal with raw nature and vicious animals, she wanted to be properly armed.

Low power, said Maud as Lt. Price got back into her car. Nelson, see she has it on low power. We're trying to negotiate with this being, not kill her.

If we ran into a wombear, said Lt. Price, we would need high power.

If we run into a wombear, said Maud, you can switch to high power. Until then, keep it at low power.

Don't wombears mostly live up north? said Nelson.

Ice, said Logan, and snow. He gathered knowledge about the world as well as a non-reader could, relying heavily on vids for his information; he had recently watched a documentary on animals living in extreme climactic conditions, he explained.

They began the climb into the mountains out of Riverview with the sun beside them but the shadows growing longer, and by just past eight, when Maud turned into the parking lot of the Rest and Refresh at the Summit, an early twilight had crept under the spreading branches of the trees that crowded in on both sides of the road, although the sunlight still reached the treetops. There were cars in the lot. It was an attractive place, this rustic lodge buried in the forest, with access to any number of hiking trails and camping spots and well-stocked little fishing holes, and during the summer they had live cooks and an excellent menu. Once the new ski bowl was completed, just to the west, they would probably keep a full staff during the winter, too.

But Maud couldn't see Sandy's car there, the little white one she bought at the end of last summer.

I will call her, said Logan, whipping out his phone and scrolling for her number very efficiently, but he was still a little vague about the Alliance numerical symbols; he punched in the Mid-City Healing Arts Clinic instead. Luckily the receptionist had gone home; the messager offered him an emergency number, and he disconnected.

Let's order dinner, said Maud, and led the way inside.

They were given a table by a front window where they could watch for Sandy's car, and before they had finished their salads they saw it pulling in, headlights yellow in the fading daylight. She got out, looking tired, glanced at Maud's car with recognition, and came inside. I know I'm late, she greeted them. Mom decided she was having palpitations again. I called Lewis; I told him I had to get back to work. She sat down between Lt. Price and Logan.

He passed her the bread basket at once and signaled to the waitress, who looked about Gina's age. Our friend needs coffee, he said, and a menu.

Does it look serious for your mother? Maud inquired, keeping her tone polite.

Sandy was not into politeness. She's lying around clutching her chest and telling everyone how Some People couldn't care less if she died tomorrow, even if she sacrificed years and years of her life to raise and nurture Some People and to get Some People through secondary at an expensive private school and all the way through college, too. How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have an ungrateful child, she says. No, it doesn't look serious, unless mangling Shakespeare – and don't any of you dare to tell Denise a thing about it, she added, shaking her finger at all of them. She doesn't need this garbage.

Like the stroke Faashi's father had last winter, said Maud, satisfied that Sandy felt as she should on the subject. Faashi had taken the bulletin from his mother with wary concern and handed a printout to the Bahtan sisters, who used their medical connections with other Bahtan groups overseas and reported that Faashi's father had been treated for what seemed to be a stress headache and released from the hospital in something under two hours. The two sets of parents, coping with the shocking inter-species marriage of their offspring, had much more in common than any of them would care to believe.

Sandy placed her order, sipped her coffee, ate a bite or two of Logan's salad since he couldn't eat much of it himself. So, she said, we're supposed to meet your friend here? Do you know when? Is she coming to the lodge?

She's aware that she is not welcome here, said Logan. We will wait until after dark; then we will go to a place we know of in the forest. She will meet us there.

We're going out into the forest in the dark? said Lt. Price.

It is a short distance, said Logan. And my friend will not let any danger come near you.

No, I imagine most of the dangers will take one look at her and leave, murmured Maud, and signaled for the wine. If I'm going to spend the evening running around the forest in the dark, she said to Lt. Price's disapproving face, I'm going to enjoy some wine first. Possibly an after-dinner liqueur, too.

I prefer to have my head clear, said Lt. Price.

Dark came swiftly, in the manner of such things in the midst of the mountains; one minute the sunlight could still be seen on the tops of the trees and the peaks of the mountain range, and then it was gone, swallowed by a brief twilight and then night itself. The five of them lingered over their liqueurs or, in Lt. Price's case, one last cup of coffee, and watched the lights on passing cars and the black shapes of the trees across the highway.

We go west, said Logan, and Maud waved the others away and put her thumb print on the bill. They paused on the veranda, constructed of polished logs. Now that the sun was gone it was chilly; she was glad she had brought a jacket, and she was glad the others were equipped also. She wished she had thought to bring more than one flashlight. Lt. Price transferred her beam pistol into her jacket pocket, and they gathered around Logan as he paused behind the lodge, getting his bearings. That way, he said finally, pointing, and plunged into the shadows that were trees and bushes and the dark spaces under and around them, and Maud took a deep breath and plunged after him, leaving the others to catch up.

Logan, with the only flashlight, walked quickly, as one who knew where he was going; Lt. Price ran forward to catch up with him, dropped back to be sure no menace followed them, ran ahead again. Nelson and Sandy and Maud stayed in a clump behind Logan, looking into the night pressing around them, not finding anything much to say. It was disconcerting to see how rapidly the lights of the Rest and Refresh vanished behind them. These lights could be seen a long way down the road, but that, of course, was cleared of trees and bushes and rocks and other wild obstructions. Trees had a way of closing in around you and shutting off the view of civilization.

Nelson tripped on a rock or a root or maybe a snake or a passing squirrel, and cursed. Why didn't I bring a flashlight? he said. I have one in my car.

I didn't think of that either, said Sandy. But we won't get lost; Logan sees very well in the dark.

Excellent sensors for visual stimuli, confirmed Logan.

What's that noise? asked Sandy, a little uncomfortable despite her faith in their guide, and Logan paused, looking around, and the other four paused too. There really was a sound, an odd sort of rhythmical, organic sound, not the sound of dripping water, not the sound of a drum, either.

I believe someone sings, Logan said, and Lt. Price pointed to the left and took out her beam pistol.

Lights, she said. Be quiet.

And now Maud could see the lights too, beams showing through the trees, and something like a song sung badly, or perhaps a chant, arising from more than one throat. The five of them drew back into the bushes and around a clump of trees, and down what appeared to be a dirt trail came six Zamuaon junior hunters, single file in full uniform, with their hunt master at the rear, controlling stragglers. All of them had flashlights. They marched in fine style, although they could not have been more than ten years old, feet rising and falling in near unison, tails swinging briskly, singing their marching song lustily. They did not notice the group in the trees. They marched down their trail and went out of sight around a small grove of evergreens, their song lingering in the mountain air.

Isn't it late for them to be out? said Sandy, mother of three small boys.

It's summer, said Nelson. No school.

The junior hunters safely out of the way, Logan turned on his flashlight again and led his own troop to the trail. He stayed with it for another ten minutes, and then turned off toward the west through the trees, waving the flashlight to encourage the rest of them. How much further? Maud asked, aware that her shoes weren't designed for hiking. At least she hadn't worn heels, but she envied Lt. Price her running shoes.

Not far, not far, said Logan, and he kept going.

They paused in a small clearing. There were no trails visible, no picnic tables, no signs pointing the way to the nearest fishing pond or stream access. They were getting, Maud thought, very far from the highway and the lodge. Stars were visible up above. She couldn't see either of the moons.

Do you know where we are? she asked Logan, who waved his flashlight.

Just a small distance further, he said, and flashed the light in a circle; Maud thought she saw the glitter of many eyes watching them with cold, hungry interest through the branches.

Which way? asked Nelson, and Logan, looking around, hesitated just for one telling moment.

That way, he said, in the tone of one trying to be extremely sure of what he was pretty sure he didn't know.

Sir, said Lt. Price, and Logan headed off into the trees before she could ask any awkward questions. He had the flashlight. Their choices were limited. The rest of them followed.

Lt. Price pulled up beside Maud and took hold of her arm and spoke into her ear. You have a traveler, she said. I do too. You can take Nelson and I will take Logan and Sandy. We can get back to your house.

Maud's foot came down rather harder than she had planned in a small hollow that caught at her shoe. She struggled for balance, won, felt a pain stab through her ankle. My car, she said, is parked at the Lodge. I'm not leaving my car.

Logan knows where we're going, said Sandy loyally, and strode ahead to catch up with him. Nelson dropped back, taking note of Maud's limp.

Maybe we should go back to the parking lot, he suggested. Or some of us, you two could go, and Sandy.

I have a pistol, said Lt. Price. Sir. I am needed here. Sandy and Maud may go with you.

Sandy and Maud are staying right here, snapped Maud, refusing to give in to her ankle.

Screams split the rustling forest night, high-pitched screams from a multitude of throats; Maud saw lights flashing erratically through the trees, heading their way. She grabbed Lt. Price and Nelson and pulled them to the left, and Sandy and Logan jumped to the right and Logan turned off his flashlight.

They were just in time. A shrieking mob of junior huntresses stampeded past them, waving flashlights, tails bushed to their fullest extent. The hunt mistress brought up the rear, all fangs and claws showing; she was shouting to her charges to go faster, faster; she was shouting in Zamuaon and Trade both, just in case someone forgot one language or the other. They passed among the trees, passed Maud's party without even noticing, and were gone in a moment, lights and yells lingering in the air for several moments more.

I believe, said Logan, sounding pleased, we have found my friend. Turning on his light again, he headed in the direction from which the junior huntresses had come; it was easy to follow their trail, broken branches, trampled bushes, and within a few minutes they could see firelight through the underbrush, and Logan led the way into the clearing where the girls had set up their camp.

There were scattered blankets and simple shelters set up against wind and rain; Zamuaons mostly didn't use tents. They did use fires, for warmth if not for cooking, and they did at least warm their raw meat; there were sharpened sticks skewering bits of something bloody, abandoned on the ground. And there was a campfire, built very correctly in a fire pit with stones encircling it, so that even left to itself, it was unlikely to spread on a night without wind.

Besides, it was not unattended; standing on her four feet sniffing at the nearest skewer was a large tawny treeket, swinging her long supple tail behind her as she made up her mind about the meat. She picked up the skewer with a front paw, sniffed it once again, and sampled it. Very good, she said, speaking as the Its did in so loud a Voice that even people without Ears, like Maud and Sandy and Lt. Price, could hear her. Excellent meat. But it is a shame they left so quickly. I did not mean to frighten them. She turned a smile upon the five of them. It was a huge and alarming smile, displaying her excellent fangs so that they glittered sharp-edged in the firelight. Hello, she greeted them. How are you this evening? So nice of you to come and meet me.

Chapter 3

Maud

What if they come back? asked Nelson, looking after the fleeing huntresses.

They're not coming back, said Sandy, and sat down beside Logan on a large dead log by the fire pit, across from the treeket. Nelson, looking doubtful, sat down on the ground beside the log. Maud, wishing to demonstrate her faith in the good intentions of the treeket, who she had, after all, met twice before and lived to tell about it, not that she had told, of course – anyway she thought it would look good if she seemed unruffled, and she lowered herself to the ground beside Nelson.

Lt. Price, not minding if she looked ruffled, walked a circuit around the camping area, not hesitating to peer into the shelters and the various blankets and sleeping bags to be sure they were alone. Not surprisingly, considering the nature of their companion, they were.

So, said Logan, you have been well?

Very well, said the treeket. She sat on the other side of the fire, flicking her tail, holding the skewer in her front paw. These bodies have excellent sensors and move well. Unfortunate that they do not last long.

My body lasts, said Logan, spreading his hands, and the treeket eyed him.

How long?

As long as needed, said Logan, and it can be repaired easily. There are many advantages.

Not good sensors, she said.

Willis installed very good sensors, said Logan. You would be pleased with them if you tried them.

I do not know if I wish to, she said. I am happy here, in this body. This is a nice place, much food, much to do. Entertainment, she said with another fanged smile; Maud was impressed that she knew the word.

How have you learned our language? she asked, and the treeket chewed the end of the skewer, tossed it aside, and picked up another.

There are people here, she said. She sniffed the meat cubes. They sleep in the forest; they sleep in the large place made of trees. That, Maud supposed, would be the lodge. I hear in their minds and I learn.

I also learn, and to read, said Logan, a slight exaggeration, and other very useful skills. We are not here to eat food and entertain ourselves at this time. We have work to do. The portals remain open; I believe Defenders enter and remain trapped here. Persons from here may by chance enter our universe. They may do damage, and they cannot survive. This is not good, not for their people, not for us. The portals must be closed; then we who remain here may find enjoyment.

We cannot close portals, said the treeket. She pulled one of the cubes of meat off the skewer and popped it into her mouth, where her teeth disposed of it with alarming rapidity. Lt. Price, still patrolling, cast a sidelong look at her and gave Maud a look of alarm and warning which Maud chose to ignore.

We have the – instructions, said Logan, seeking words. I am not strong enough alone.

Need power, said the treeket, and looked at Maud.

We are trying to find a power source, she said and the treeket looked at her and at Lt. Price, pacing at the far end of the camp site, and at Nelson, sitting very still beside Maud.

You have a power source, she said.

No, said Maud, not mincing words.

They will not, said Logan. There is danger to them.

Then there is nothing to do, said the treeket, and she shrugged, an odd gesture from a creature covered with tawny fir sitting on its four legs across the fire, munching on the meat cubes from the skewers with its fine fangs.

Let me understand this, said Maud. You're saying that unless we risk ourselves and all those people we love, not to mention the centuries of work – Nelson stirred; she decided to let that pass for now. Unless we risk ourselves, you aren't going to get involved? You're going to stay out here chasing squirrels and frightening campers? And you call yourselves civilized beings? Superior beings?

The treeket, chewing, considered this. I did not call myself such a thing, she pointed out. He may have. She pointed the skewer at Logan.

I thought, said Nelson, very quietly, that it was all settled. I thought we came out here to meet your friend, Logan, and give her a ride back to Bridgeton. Where you will be safe, he told the treeket, without hunters looking for you, with plenty of food you don't need to stalk, with warm places out of the rain and wind.

I do not say I will help, she said, when you do not help yourselves by using the power you have already.

You must come, said Logan. You will see. You will come to know them. I have done so. I myself believe you are correct, the power source here is the only one possible, but they seek other answers and perhaps some may be found. You will see when you come.

The treeket eyed them, studying them one at a time as she absentmindedly picked at her fangs with the sharp end of the skewer. She took her time, eyeing Maud and Lt. Price, and Nelson, and Sandy, sitting beside Logan. This is your she, she remarked finally, with a nod toward Logan. I remember her. Your calling sound is Sandy, she said, and Sandy nodded at her name.

Logan was – She tapped her forehead, as she had done while he still occupied room in her head, to indicate who it was impelling her or ignoring her, or expressing interest or curiosity or amusement. And you helped to get rid of the Defender who tried to take me over; I want to thank you for that. She glanced around at the rest of them. I promise, she said, and I am grateful to you, so you can believe this, that you will be safe with us. And – well, you should see what we are doing; you really can't tell about us, our world, our intentions, if you stay here in the forest. Yes, I know you see people sometimes, but it's only a few people, all on vacation, not in their, uh, places, where they live their lives.

This is true, said Nelson. You can't tell anything that way.

Here, said Logan. I wish to speak words, because my friends do not all understand mind speech without words – Nelson, maybe. Nelson gave him a stare of great innocent bewilderment. No one really knew what powers Nelson had, and he never said. But you must know what is in my mind, now that we are face to face. It has been very long, and I do not think you understand me at a distance, as we've been talking since I left with Sandy. He put out his hand, dangerously close to the heat of the campfire, and Sandy grabbed his wrist and pulled him back. The treeket cocked her head and, Maud thought, snickered; interesting that she had picked up such modes of expression. Jared was going to love this, if they ever got her back to Bridgeton where he could meet her.

It's hot. Go around the fire, Sandy explained, and Logan, enlightened, nodded and got up and went around the fire and sat down beside the treeket. They looked at each other for a moment, and then the treeket put out a front paw and touched Logan's forehead, and Logan reached to her forehead. They sat quietly, communing, Maud supposed, and Sandy pulled her jacket closer around her shoulders and Nelson sat very still, watching closely – perhaps, as Logan said, he really could understand what they were saying. Lt. Price circled the campsite once again, pistol in her hand, her attention evenly divided between unseen menaces in the brush and the menace in the tawny fur that could be seen all too well.

Hands and paws dropped; the treeket sighed. Very well, I will make the attempt, she said. I will come with you, and stay for a little time, at least.

Excellent, said Logan, brightening. the car – the vehicle by which we move – is just a little ways away, back by the Lodge. We will all walk there together.

I am ready, said the treeket, setting down the skewer beside the fire.

Maybe, said Nelson, casting only a small sideways glance at Maud's ankle, we shouldn't all walk; you could take her with that traveler thing, Maud, back to your apartment, and the rest of us can go back and get the car, and drive home.

And that would certainly be more comfortable with her ankle, Maud reflected, but on the other hand, this meant that she would be spending several hours all by herself with a ferocious predator, not a prospect she found agreeable. Well, going back to my apartment by myself, she said, trying to think of a polite way to say, No way in hell am I taking a wild animal to my apartment alone.

Lt. Price – said Sandy, and Lt. Price turned a horrified look upon her.

I am needed here, she said very firmly, brandishing her pistol.

I could go, said Nelson. We could do it together, he told Maud, apparently grasping the problem. She won't hurt us. Right? he asked the treeket, who seemed to find this even more amusing.

You say you will not hurt me. If this is true, I will not hurt you, she said.

So it's settled, said Nelson.

My car, said Maud, finding the final argument. Logan can't drive; Sandy has to drive her own car. Lt. Price –

I drive very well, said Lt. Price. I will drive your car. Sandy and Logan may drive in Sandy's car.

My car is locked, said Maud.

Yes, sir agreed Lt. Price, unblinking; so the little wretch had added her thumb prints to Maud's lock when Maud wasn't looking. Maud glared at her. She looked back with a bland smile. Emergencies do occur, she said to Maud. It is good to be prepared.

Undoubtedly, said Maud, but these emergencies shouldn't involve my car. My locked car.

Oh, hold the sibling fighting thing until later, said Sandy, waving the argument away. That's what we'll do, then; Maud and Nelson can take – do you have a name in our language? The treeket seemed to find that amusing. Well, said Sandy, Anyway you three can go, and the rest of us will follow in the cars. Okay, everyone? Why are you laughing? she asked Maud.

I'm not laughing, lied Maud, contemplating the sibling fighting thing and wishing that Cara and Jared could hear this casual assessment of the relationship Maud had with a full sister younger than her daughter. Only they would appreciate the joke as fully as it deserved, and even they, not knowing the full story about Oliver –

Well. If we're going to do this, Maud concluded, looking at her watch, we probably should do it now. It's midnight already. she told the treeket.

I can take us, said Lt. Price, fumbling past her denim jacket into the neckline of her T-shirt, and Sandy and Logan pounced upon her and yanked her hand away from her traveler.

We'll just walk, said Sandy.

The treeket was sleek and her fur was surprisingly soft. Maud took one arm and Nelson took the other and she manipulated the traveler, adjusting for the three of them. They paused in between, so that she could readjust her hold on her passengers, and the treeket looked about with curiosity. Not your places, she said, listening to the wind-chime sound of the leaves, far away.

No, one jump short of our places, said Maud, and made the adjustment and hit the button again.

They landed not quite where she wanted, but luckily at two in the morning there was no one in the hall; even the vampire downstairs was somewhere else. She unlocked her door with a fast stab of her thumb and she and Nelson ushered the treeket into her living room, the lights coming up as they passed the sensors.

No doubt the treeket had never been in an actual building; she regarded it with great interest and curiosity. Would it be not right for me to investigate this place? she inquired. I do not know what is proper in your world.

Go right ahead, said Maud. Would you care for coffee, or milk, or maybe water?

Water would be welcome. She sniffed at the nearest armchair, bent her neck to sniff under the chair too. Nelson moved out into the kitchen and opened the cupboard.

Glass or bowl? he called over his shoulder.

I do not know. What is glass? What is bowl?

Nelson took a glass and a bowl out of the cupboard by the sink and held them up, one in each hand, and the treeket, circling the end table with the lamp, nodded at the bowl. Nelson put the glass back and turned to the sink. Maud considered the possibility that coffee would interfere with sleep tonight, decided there wasn't going to be that much sleep tonight, and hit the button on the coffee maker, and Nelson handed her a cup on his way out to the living room area with the bowl of water.

The treeket moved through