The Strangeness Within Pt. 05

"Ah," said Abuela. "I see who this was meant for. Is it a code of some sort?"

"Yes," said Esther, quickly grabbing for the paper. "Uh, may I?"

Abuela smiled as Esther began to translate. After a few minutes, Nicola's voice broke in.

"So what does it say? Who is it from?"

Annoyed, Esther focused her eyes on Nicola.

"This code requires a lot of computation. It will probably take me upwards of three hours to translate all of it without a calculator. But it is from my friend Raj, the mathematician. He is telling us some important things that he and Javier and another person have discovered. It involves this power struggle that Abuela is worried about. If you're willing to wait --"

"Of course," Abuela said. "Nicola, perhaps the two of us could spend some time together. I have sorely neglected your lessons, and I am sorry."

Nicola opened her mouth in surprise, then nodded vigorously, and the two of them left together.

By the time she'd finished, Mark was back and finishing preparing dinner. Abuela and Nicola had returned quietly at some point.

"All right," said Esther. "I'm going to read you the full text of the letter. I think it's important to all of us."

She took a deep breath and began. When she'd finally finished, they sat in heavy silence.

"Lukas," Abuela said. "I had my suspicions it might be him, but he has learned to shield himself well from my probes. Perhaps this ability aided his escape from Franklin. He may be like you were, Esther, unaware he is even doing it."

"We've got to help him," Nicola blurted. "Franklin is a monster, just as Lukas said."

"Yes," Abuela said. "I agree with Lukas that Franklin is an abomination. I had not been willing to believe a single man could utterly control the behavior of so many at once, but if one of sufficient talent put his mind to it, and cared for nothing but power, I suppose it would be possible. Yet I refuse to ally myself directly with Lukas. His agents have killed, Nicola. Some of them have even used their powers to do it. They would have hurt many more already if I had not been blunting the efforts of both sides. Whatever Lukas's intentions, he has started a war, one that could bring ruin on us all."

"What do we do, Abuela?" Esther said.

"I must think," she replied. "I have so little time left. My abilities to calm this conflict are nearing an end, and it is vital Esther learns as much as she can. Good night, and tomorrow we will all discuss these matters."

* * *

Esther opened her eyes. It was a black, starless night. The trees bent themselves down oppressively, as if aware of all her errors. Every action left its echoes through the world.

She steadied her breath, distancing herself from the images. The outlines of her cabin formed, and with them the comforting sounds of Mark and Nicola, deep in sleep. The unsettling images were part of a nightmare Abuela was having.

Carefully she extended her senses. Abuela was thrashing in her cabin, and the shroud that always surrounded her was in tatters. Esther sat up quickly, intending to see to the old woman.

Suddenly there was a tight burst of such pure focus and power that she reflexively pulled away. When she opened her mind again, the world was silent. Abuela lay still, but her shroud was gone. Terror filled Esther.

"Wake up! Mark, Nicola, something's happened to Abuela," she said.

Mark woke, vaulted down and exited the cabin before Esther could even swing her legs out of bed. When she and Nicola arrived at Abuela's cabin, Mark was kneeling next to Abuela's bed and feeling her forehead.

"She will not wake," he said urgently. "Esther, do you know what happened?"

Esther shook her head. "She was having a nightmare, and then she put immense power into a single action. I think she called someone to her, from a huge distance."

They stared at each other, trying to understand the implications.

"Let me see if I can reach her in my meditation," Esther said.

Without speaking, Nicola moved to kneel behind Esther, holding her tightly and stroking her in their familiar way.

Despite her terror, Esther was able to faintly glimpse the glowing strands entwining everything in the room. Abuela was there, but she was subtly different from every other time. Slowly Esther understood, and she opened her eyes.

"Abuela is not using her abilities at all," she said. "She is not masking herself, nor is she listening, not even at the level she maintains during sleep. Whatever she did may have utterly exhausted her."

"Who could she have called?" Nicola asked. "Lukas? Could she have been desperate enough to try to bring him here to, I don't know, negotiate?"

Esther shook her head. "It was somewhere to the east. But that doesn't tell us much, does it. And this was more complicated than a simple drawing of attention. I don't believe it was meant to harm, but I have no idea what she might have done."

"So she probably didn't try to assassinate Franklin," Nicola said.

"Don't even joke about that," Mark spoke up. "She would detest the idea."

Nicola sighed and nodded.

"Jacob?"

Abuela muttered the word softly, and they all moved closer.

"He's not here," Mark said. "Do you want us to get him? Are you all right?"

"Want Jacob," Abuela muttered. She opened her eyes and looked at them in confusion. She tried to sit up, but something was wrong with her muscles. And Esther realized something was wrong with her face as well.

"She's had a stroke," Nicola said, realizing at the same time. "What do you do for a stroke? Shit, you go to the hospital."

"Blood thinners," Esther said. "Aspirin. And we should get her food and water, if she overused her abilities."

They managed to get Abuela to eat and drink a bit. After a few minutes she seemed a little better, but she kept asking for Jacob.

"Do you think she called for him?" Nicola asked. "He's to the east, near Reno."

"Maybe," said Esther. "But if not, we should get him here. Do you know how to contact him?"

"I'd have to go into town for a phone. I don't like this. I don't want to leave you."

"We can take care of her, Nicola," said Mark. "I agree with Esther. She wants Jacob, and you know he'd want to see her now. I don't believe she is in any more immediate danger."

Nicola nodded and moved to the door. Suddenly she stopped.

"Abuela still isn't using her abilities at all?"

Esther nodded.

"Then we've lost our protection," Nicola said. "Everything we've taken for granted. Esther, how much can you do?"

"Not much," said Esther unhappily. "And I would barely trust myself for what little I can do. I will listen, though. Keep watch as well as I can. But I don't think I can maintain that very consistently. Certainly not while I'm asleep."

"OK," Nicola said, breathing deeply. "I can do this. God, we need to get her back. See you soon."

* * *

Shortly after dawn, Esther heard a small car working its way up the road. Mark had already woken from his half-sleep by Abuela's side. Esther was realizing that both he and Nicola could still listen regularly at a greater distance than she could, unless she entered another exhausting meditation.

Jacob was a thin, medium-height man in his fifties, with a clerical collar under his jacket.

"Hello again, Mark, Nicola," he said. "And you must be Esther. I am sorry not to have met you sooner."

After a warm, firm handshake, he glanced up at Abuela's cabin.

"She is doing better," said Mark. "Relatively speaking."

"Did she tell you of her worries about her health?" Esther asked.

He shook his head and frowned. "She has always been so good at secrets. Thank you for calling me here."

When he entered the cabin, Abuela lifted her head.

"Jacob," she said blearily. Her speech still wasn't working exactly right. "Good to see you, my friend."

He rushed to her side and stroked her face, an unexpectedly intimate gesture.

"Friends," he said, "Would you give us a while alone? I will call if she needs any help."

Esther was last through the door, and she heard Jacob begin to weep.

"Marisol," he said softly. "I'm here."

* * *

Several hours later, Jacob found them eating lunch. The three of them looked up blearily, and Esther motioned to a chair.

He rubbed his eyes and looked at Esther. "Abuela is beside herself that she hasn't given you enough instruction. She couldn't quite admit it, but I believe the stroke has permanently damaged her abilities. She may not be able to use them ever again. Abuela grieves for that loss, but also for what she was unable to accomplish. I hope we can make what time she has left as peaceful as possible."

"Jacob," Nicola asked. "Did she say who it was she reached out to last night? I suppose it wasn't you, and Esther said it was an immensely powerful effort. Possibly it even caused the stroke."

Jacob shook his head. "She has no memory of it. I suppose we will have to trust in her judgment. In that she has always been the best of us."

Mark left with some food for Abuela. When he returned, his eyes were reddened.

"She wants to talk to you, Esther," he said. "Don't let her exhaust herself more. Jacob's right. She deserves some rest."

Esther found Abuela sitting half up on her bed, finishing her lunch.

"Don't be shy," she said, patting the bed beside her. Esther sat down, feeling awkward.

"I can barely even see you, Esther. I am blind and deaf, as though I have been swaddled tight in cotton. My mind had so thoroughly adapted to my abilities that the damage I sustained affects all of it together. And this is not an injury my body has the resources to repair. It is your time now, Esther. I know you are unprepared, and I know the prospect is terrifying to you, and I'm sorry."

"Abuela, I cannot stop this great conflict between Lukas and Franklin. I can't even feel the outlines of what's happening. How can I keep people like us safe? I need so much more practice."

"It took me decades to develop my abilities," said Abuela. "In the beginning, I only kept myself safe, and that poorly. It is vital that you begin likewise, in whatever manner you feel best. Raj did the right thing by implying to Lukas that you were not particularly important. I understand you want to do everything I have done and more, but all will be lost if you are taken, or coerced somehow. Though I believe you will be quite naturally resistant to any such efforts."

Esther nodded and Abuela continued.

"I have hidden and misdirected others' gaze away from this place for long enough that it will likely be safe for a time, even if others are searching for it. Now, Jacob has full access to my financial assets, and he can help you manage them. But he understands that I am leaving everything to you. You can trust Jacob as much as anyone. I will give you a list of a few others I trust, those who stayed with me in the past and have gone their own ways."

Abuela suddenly coughed, resting her head in her pillow. "I am so weak, Esther. Please, if you could ask Jacob to return —"

* * *

Mark found Esther on her way to the cabin. He hesitated before speaking.

"I eavesdropped on Abuela's cabin," he said. "That used to be impossible, but now —"

"It's all right," Esther said. "I don't mean to keep secrets from you."

"I know this will be your place," Mark said uncomfortably. "But I could still do useful things. Hunt, chop wood. Make you dinner."

Esther stared at Mark. Sometimes she forgot how differently his mind worked.

"I would never send you away," she said. "If I stay here, you are welcome. And if I have to leave, you are still welcome. You and Nicola both. This is your home, much more than it is mine."

Mark breathed deeply and nodded. "Thank you. I am going into the woods until evening. Please call to me if you need me. I know you are capable of that. Abuela did it sometimes, though I think it was more to keep me from forgetting and staying out too long."

Abruptly he turned and slipped away.

Nicola was inside the cabin, seeming at loose ends.

"My grandmother died when I was ten," she said. "I was never close to her. I've never done this before. I wanted to be with Mark, but he rejected me."

"He didn't reject you," Esther said. "He has to process this his own way. He was terrified that I would throw him out of here when Abuela is gone. I told him that of course this was his home, and yours, as long as you want it to be."

Nicola nodded. "Where else would I go, anyway? I don't know when this started being home. God, I'm scared. You want to fool around? Maybe go out in the tub together again?"

Esther swallowed uncomfortably.

"Nicola — we're going to have to do even more of that as long as it's the best way to work on my abilities. But I that means I'm using you. It's not that I don't like it, but —"

"I think I understand," said Nicola. "For what it's worth, I'm happy to help. I like you, Esther."

"Weirdly enough, I think I like you too," said Esther. Nicola burst out laughing.

The next few days settled into an unexpected normalcy. Intellectually, they all knew how precarious their position was without Abuela's protection. But Abuela's condition didn't seem to be worsening. In fact, she seemed a little stronger each day, as though her body finally had the resources to do some repairs now that she wasn't exhausting herself day and night with her abilities. Esther spent much of her days meditating, frequently with Nicola's particular assistance beforehand. Then there were the long, frustrating discussions in which Abuela attempted to interpret what Esther described. Esther's progress was slow, but it was progress.

Jacob stayed some nights, sleeping in Abuela's cabin. It was clear the two were intimate physically as well as emotionally, and Esther wondered how that had developed. But she certainly didn't find any reason to disapprove. She liked Jacob, and he seemed a good match for her, even if she was over three times his age.

But Jacob still had his duties to his own congregation, a long drive away over the mountains. And thus by pure chance he was away on the night everything changed.

..........................*** Chapter 32 ***...........................

It felt as though Esther had just fallen asleep when Mark made a strange noise. Everything else seemed to happen in an instant. The crashing of glass, the splintering sounds, the heavy thump as Mark hit the floor. She sat bolt upright as Mark staggered outside.

"Gun," he muttered weakly.

Nicola made a horrible anguished sound as she struggled out of bed. "They shot Mark. Someone shot Mark. Oh, fuck, go protect Abuela. I'll help Mark. Esther, move! Open your senses and be silent!"

Remembering the glass, Esther found her shoes and slipped them on, and then she ran after Nicola. It was pitch black, but someone had seen well enough to shoot Mark through the window. Someone with skills like them, or else fancy night vision gear. She stretched and listened, but she was too terrified to hear much above her own footsteps. There was no one close, though. The distance to Abuela's cabin seemed immense, but somehow she covered it, opening and closing the door as quickly and quietly as possible.

"Hmm?" Abuela mumbled. "Who is it?"

"Ssh," whispered Esther. "Someone has come with a gun. They shot Mark through the window. He and Nicola are going after them."

"Oh no," Abuela said. "Oh no. How could they find us so fast? Oh, I'm useless. Esther, you must find a safe place to hide. Not in here with me. Out in the woods, perhaps."

"I will keep you safe, Abuela," she said with a confidence she didn't have. "I'm going to lie down and meditate now."

She thought of Nicola, of Javier. She touched herself shamelessly, but she was wound up too tight for any of that to help. Even so she felt her senses expanding bit by bit, drawing in the quiet sounds of the forest, the smells of loam and needle and bark and blood.

Mark was bleeding badly. She could follow the trail in her mind, from the cabin, continuing down the hill parallel to the road. Nicola would have followed easily enough.

The trail faded in her mind, and she struggled to see further. She heard two loud popping noises, then a few more. Gunfire. Mark was fast and terribly strong, but he wasn't as fast as a bullet. And he was already injured. Esther felt sick.

Something pulled at her senses, and then a person came into hearing. It was no one she knew, and he was moving extremely fast. Terrified, she threw the blanket over Abuela.

"Stay still," she said. "I'll protect you."

The door burst open and a large man came in. He was holding a deadly-looking gun, like the type the military had, with a little targeting scope. His other arm hung limp, and with her enhanced senses she could see he was bleeding from the nose and the side of his head.

"You can sit up, Abuela," he said in a hoarse voice. "No hiding behind your latest recruit."

But Abuela had already thrown off the blanket.

"Andrew," she said slowly. "Of course it would be you I called. My greatest regret. So, are you here to take your revenge, then? I am more than ready. I suppose it would be a type of justice."

Andrew shook his head, as though confused.

"You can't do that to me anymore," he said. "I'm beyond your tricks. Beyond Franklin's reach. I'm finally my own man, and I remember what you did. I remember it all."

"Then I'm truly sorry. Doubly sorry for what Franklin seems to have done to you. I am glad you're free of both of us. How do you know you are beyond his reach, though?"

"He tried to stop me," Andrew said distantly. "But he had no power over me. I escaped. And there are so few assets in California. I never understood why, but now I do."

He lifted the weapon and pointed it at Abuela. Terrified, Esther moved between them, but with a single motion he stepped forward and smashed the weapon into her chest, throwing her against the wall. She didn't think she'd broken anything, but she didn't try to get up again.

"No one can stand against me," he said, with so little emotion that it terrified Esther all the more.

"All right, Andrew," said Abuela. "Take my life. If you're a free man, why are you hesitating? Have you perhaps remembered the conscience you always had hidden inside?"

There was a flash, and a terribly loud noise. It repeated a few times, and then Andrew lowered the weapon.

"It's done," he muttered. "She won't do that to me ever again." He dropped the weapon on the bed.

Esther crawled to Abuela, but Andrew had told the truth. Abuela's entire head was a wreck of blood and gore. Esther stepped back, trying to think, trying not to let the nausea overwhelm everything. Maybe she could grab the gun, but she knew nothing about firing it. And as fast as the thought came, Andrew grabbed her.

Even with a single good arm, he nearly crushed the breath out of her. It was hopeless to fight him.

"I know you," he said slowly. "You're Esther Thompson. They wanted to find you. That means you're worth something. Insurance. You're coming with me."

She opened her mind, reaching to call someone for help: Mark, Nicola, or even Jacob. She grasped desperately for the glittering strands connecting everything to everything. Maybe there was some rare butterfly that could flap its wings and send them all back in time. She pulled and grasped, and she couldn't see a thing. But it turned out help was coming anyway.

Behind Andrew a figure approached at an incredible pace, nearly silently. Andrew turned at the last instant, but Nicola was already on him.

There was a brief, hair-raising sound, like a billion nails scratching on a chalkboard. And then just as quickly it was all over, and Andrew dropped bonelessly to the floor.

Esther rolled away from him, grabbing the gun with shaky hands.

"It's OK," Nicola said slowly from where she sat on the floor. "He's dead."