Part 6 (1/2)
”I'm poisonous to the evil?” Steven asked.
”Not exactly poisonous,” she said. ”Dangerous. Many evil will fear you because there's something about you that's dangerous to them.”
”What?” Steven asked.
”I don't know,” Judith said. ”You might have some ability that counters theirs, or have an ability to damage them. Or, you might just leave a bad taste in their mouth if they were to devour you. Really, I would have thought that a man your age with the gift would have figured out his abilities by now.”
”He's just starting,” Roy said. ”Only been using the gift for a year.”
”You should accelerate his tutelage,” Judith said. ”He has abilities that are going to waste because he doesn't know he has them or how to use them.”
Steven remembered something Anita had said to him, at Unser Estate: You're more powerful than all of them. At the time he didn't know what she meant, but she must have been referring to this ability Judith was describing. Makes sense, Steven thought. Anita was evil. She would have been able to see his markings as a warning.
”Are we done here, Steven?” Roy asked, his patience with Judith at an end.
”I guess so,” Steven said, his mind whirling.
”We'll show ourselves out,” Roy said to Judith, not bothering to thank her.
”Clara has a bag of these delightful cuc.u.mbers from Silverdale for you,” Judith said. ”Please take them as you leave. I think you'll find them comparable!”
”How come I can't see it in the River?” Steven asked Roy. They were back at Roy's place, and Roy was flipping through the pages of his book, looking for a pa.s.sage he'd used in the past. ”You can't see anything on me, right?”
”No, I can't,” said Roy. ”If it's a warning to evil, why would I see it? You'd either need to be evil, or have something like her crystal to look through.”
”Michael and Jurgen must not have seen it,” Steven said. ”But Anita saw it. And Lukas must have seen it. So it isn't a warning to evil humans, only to evil non-humans. I need to find something I can view it through, like her gla.s.s. I want to study the markings. I only had a second to look at them. Do you have any markings?”
”I don't believe so,” Roy said, turning the pages of his book. ”At least, I've never been told I do. Judith seemed to think I didn't. To be honest with you, most of the work I've done for others involved ghosts. I tried to avoid the ones that dealt with more sinister and dark things, like this one. It makes me uncomfortable.”
”Have I had these markings my whole life?” Steven asked. ”Was I born with them?”
”Probably,” Roy said. ”She said it was a natural thing.”
”Have you ever read anything about this? In your book?”
”No,” Roy said, ”I haven't. But then, it's new to me, so it might be in here and I just haven't understood it.”
”There might be information on it at Eximere,” Steven said. ”There's hundreds of books left to go through. I might be able to pick up something about it there.”
Roy closed his book and turned to Steven. ”This is bothering you?”
”Not bothering,” Steven said. ”Well, OK, yes, it is bothering me. How would you feel if you just found out you were marked as a warning to evil? Wouldn't you be concerned? Want to know more about it?”
”I guess I would,” Roy said. ”Maybe we can find something at Eximere. I was thinking we needed to find a way to soften up Evelyn first, find out what she knows.”
”Of course,” Steven said. ”You're right. That's the next step. Sorry to distract you. Please, keep reading.”
Roy opened the book once again and resumed his scanning. ”I used to have this little trick,” he said, ”that would distract people while you're talking to them. It made them slip up and be honest with you. d.a.m.ned if I can find it though.”
”She's gifted,” Steven said. ”It'll have to be stronger than something you'd use on a normal person. She'll see through the trick.”
”You may be right,” Roy said. ”Might be too subtle.”
”We need her to trust us,” Steven said. ”To realize that we're on her side. If we just drug her to get some answers we'll still have to deal with her fighting us.”
”Ah,” Roy said, ”that's a better approach! We need something that will make her like us.” He began looking through the book again, with a different goal.
As Roy searched, Steven's mind returned to the markings. I wonder if Jason is marked, he thought. If he is, maybe I shouldn't wait to tell him about the gift. I need some way of seeing these markings, something like Judith's planchette gla.s.s.
Eximere. All those objects, just sitting. One of them might have the properties I need. Another reason to go.
”I'm driving to Eximere tonight,” Steven said. ”Want to come with me?”
”Tonight?” Roy said.
”I'll come back tomorrow, but I want the night to explore the library and the objects out there. You're welcome to come with me if you want or not, stay here with the book if you'd rather.”
”No, I'll go with you,” Roy said. ”I can read in the car on the way. Are you looking for ways to deal with Evie? Or are you looking for ways to deal with your markings?”
”Both,” Steven said.
Chapter Five.
”I got a call from Jason,” Roy said, sitting in the pa.s.senger seat of Steven's car as they drove to the peninsula. ”He wants to come see me tomorrow.”
”Don't,” Steven said instinctually.
Roy looked at him. ”Don't what?”
”Don't meet with him.”
”I figured something was up with you two,” Roy said. ”He's never been one to meet with me out of the blue.”
”He wants to talk to you about a dream he's been having,” Steven said. ”He talked to me about it the other day.”
”Why does he want to talk to me about it?” Roy asked.
”Because the dream is about the gift, and he knows there's something I'm not telling him. He thinks it's some deep, dark family secret, and he'll try to pry it out of you.”
”He won't have to pry,” Roy said. ”I'll tell him all about it if he asks.”
”No, you won't,” Steven said. ”I'm his father, it's my prerogative.”