Candidate (Selected Book 4) (71 page)

"I think you should try it."

"I couldn't."

"I bet you can." She looked at me uncertainly. "You can stand up any time you want. I'll swim along with you, and if you have any trouble, I'll help you."

"What do I do?"

"Well, remember how we kicked before? You kick the same way. Take a big breath, then sink down and push off against the wall. Do it gently. Then you kick your feet and you sort of cup the water with your hands and push the water behind you. And you can do the same thing with your tentacles, if you want. Just don't scrape against the bottom or it kind of hurts. You can do this, Jasmine."

She looked at me and nodded. "You'll be right here."

"Swimming beside you," I said. "Unless those tentacles give you a big advantage, and you leave me behind."

I watched her take a big breath and sink. I sank with her and watched. We kicked off together, then I swam beside her.

She swam. She was slow, and she flailed at the water, but she swam. I had to pop up for air halfway there, but she stayed at the bottom, and I swam back down.

We made it to the end, and she stood, lifting her tentacles out of the water and breathing heavily, but then she almost jumped me, surprising me, but wrapping around me and hanging on tightly. "Thank you," she whispered.

"You're welcome. Are you done, or did you want to try a little more."

"A little more," she said, releasing me.

"With those tentacles, you should be able to swim faster than that. I want you to sink down, but keep your feet under you, and try to find a motion that seems to push against the water." I sank down to show her what I meant. Soon, she was doing the same thing.

"You can lift a tentacle clear for a breath when you need one," I said, "similar to how humans turn sideway to breath when swimming."

She worked on it for a while then turned to me. "Maybe that works."

"Maybe. So I want you to swim along the surface this time. The only difference is that you aim slightly up so that you are moving forward and up at the same time."

"I'll try."

"You can stand up if you want."

She didn't do very well, and she stood up a couple of times. But she made it to the far end.

"Come here now," I said. I pulled her to me. "Wrap around me. Legs too."

She enveloped me.

"I'm going to sink, so put your tentacles where you need to. But if you end up pushing me down a lot, I'm going to push you towards the edge, and you have to grab on and let me go. Okay?"

"Okay."

I sank down, waited for her to adjust her grip, then began swimming, forward this time. Soon we were in over our heads, but I was able to hold us up. I swam us down and back, and then we were back in shallow water.

"Okay, I'm kind of pooped," I said. "That's a lot of work."

She continued to hold me tightly, but then slowly relaxed, setting her feet down then unwrapping from around me. "Thank you, Andromeda. Can we do it again sometime?"

"Whenever you want," I said. "I'm proud of you, Jasmine. If you do this enough, you'll become a natural."

* * * *

Two days later, Dark Skies was gone. And late in the evening two days later, Charoite slipped into my cell, climbed into bed with me, and wrapped me in her arms. "I heard about your friend. I'm sorry."

"What are you doing here?"

"Jasmine called me."

"You didn't have to come," I said. "I'm fine."

"Take your visor off, Andromeda."

I did, and she took it from me, setting it aside, then lay back down, nose to, well, she didn't have a nose, but imagine if she did.

"Is it fine?" she asked.

"No," I whispered. And then I started crying. "No, it's not fine! It really sucks."

The Kitsune held me while I cried on her shoulder. She said little, but it meant so much that she came when I hurt. "Do Kitsune cry?" I asked.

"No. We have other expressions of grief. Crying in this fashion is strictly a human response. Keening is quite common, however. It sounds different between different species, of course. I understand grief, and you give your friend honor to mourn her."

"She's not dead."

"No, but she is no longer in your life, and she was very important to you."

"She's still my friend."

"Yes, she is. She'll always be your friend."

"I'd like to kill that bitch," I said.

"No, Andromeda," Charo said.

"I wouldn't, but I want to hurt her. I'm not a vindictive person. I'm really not."

"In spite of your performance with a certain Implac."

"I couldn't ignore what she did."

"No, you couldn't, and I wasn't faulting you."

I rolled onto my back. The ceiling was smoky instead of clear. I sighed. "It won't do that for me." She looked up to see what I meant.

"This is your private grief," Charo said.

I lay for a minute or two, Charo on her side facing me, arms around me. "Charo, could you hurt her?"

She grew still. "The Octal queen."

"Yes."

"Andromeda, this is their basic biology. What humans do to other humans is so much worse. Do you want us to hurt those people, too?"

"Yes."

"Do you really?"

"We're talking about the men who hurt women, aren't we?"

"Yes, although it's not always men that do it."

"I don't know why you don't put a stop to it."

"I don't know why your government doesn't."

"Yes you do. It would take war."

"It would be if war if we did it, too."

"Yeah, but you could win without getting a bunch of innocent people killed."

"I'm not sure that's true," she replied. "But even if it were, we are not here as the policemen of your world. We are here to guide, but except for a few things that could have devastating worldwide effects, we don't interfere. And we don't interfere in the mating habits of the other species. The Octal queen did nothing wrong, Andromeda."

"She ambushed my friend! She stole my friend!"

"If Dark Skies could have done it to her, are you so sure she wouldn't have?"

"Of course she wouldn't. She wouldn't ambush her."

"Wouldn't she. Was Dark Skies practicing?"

"What do you mean, practicing?"

"Young Octals spar," she explained. "They practice on each other. It breaks off before either is captured. If one gets the upper hand, the other one flees, although many a two occurred when someone didn't flee soon enough. But they practice. Was Dark Skies practicing on you? Did she make you succumb without you realizing she was doing it? Did she catch you in the hallway or fill your cell with her scent?"

I rolled away from her.

"Someone told you."

"No one had to tell me, Andromeda. They practice in preparation for the real battle." She moved closer, setting a hand on my shoulder. "I know it hurts. I know that at some level you understand. I know at another level, you don't. I don't, either. But this is what it means to be an Octal. Would you take revenge on a lion who ate a zebra you had befriended?"

"I don't know."

"Would you blame him for being a lion?"

"No."

"I could hurt her, Andromeda. But I can't hurt her without hurting her family. I can't hurt the queen without hurting Dark Skies. Oh, I could hire someone to catch her, perhaps alone, and physically hurt her. I could have her beaten. It might not even be traced back to me. I know Mother could do it. But if I kill her, Dark Skies and the rest of the family will die."

"The bond is so strong?"

"They will commit suicide in their grief," Charo said. "If I only hurt the queen, they will suffer with her. It is not very different than if I were to hurt your mother, but even more intense. Dark Skies wouldn't want you to look for revenge. Even before she was taken, she would have told you, if she ever loses a battle of wills, then you must be happy for her. She now has a family, and she is very happy. Weren't you happy when you were with her?"

"It's not fair. She didn't want this!"

"Imagine Dark Skies had kept you. You would have been happy, even if it wasn't really the path you wanted. And you wouldn't have wanted her hurt."

Again I said nothing.

"I know it hurts. I know you want the queen to feel a portion of your pain. But you can't let this eat at you, Andromeda. You have to find a way to let go of it."

"How am I supposed to do
that
?"

"Be happy for her. She has a family. She loves her queen, and her queen loves her. She will have a good life. Only one out of seven females can be queen."

"I know," I whispered.

* * * *

"Good morning, Andromeda."

"You stayed here all night."

"I did. Will you swim this morning?"

"Yes, then breakfast and we have an early event. We're short handed again."

"I can help for a few days."

"I'm running events. Are you sure you can take orders from me?"

"Of course I can. I am here just a few days. Are you mine while I am here?"

"Yes," I said.

"So I may collect my winnings tonight."

I smiled. "Yes."

Her ears twitched. "You are going to be completely mine."

"Good," I said. "Thank you for coming. I think I needed you."

"I'm glad I could be here for you. I wish I'd come sooner, but I think you needed a little time without me first."

"I think so, too."

* * * *

My visor dimmed the moment I stepped into her apartment that evening. I came to a sudden stop, my hands out, feeling for any obstacles. She squeaked her pleasure.

"Andromeda," Charo said. "Do you have any idea what I want to do with you?"

"I might have an idea or two."

"I would never do any of this without your permission."

"Are you going to hurt me?"

"No. But I'm going to do a great deal to you, and there may be a few things you wish I wouldn't. I'm going to do them anyway, if I want to, and if you complain, I might make it impossible for you to do so."

"What things?"

"I don't know. I won't hurt you. There are no recordings or other witnesses. You must decide."

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Remove your clothes. You have one minute."

I hurried to obey, actually falling down onto the floor as I struggled with the shoes and skirt. As my time drew close, she began counting down the seconds, and I barely flung the bra from me as she reached zero.

She spent most of the time squeaking her laughter.

"Stand up, my human pet," she ordered. "Leave your clothing there."

I stood, and I heard her walking around me. Even blinded I tried to follow her, but she said, "Stare straight ahead!" And so I took a position and let Charo circle me. "I like looking at your body, Andromeda. I really like looking at you like this."

It was a little embarrassing, but it felt good, too. "I'm glad," I said. "I like looking at you, too."

She squeaked. "And yet, you will remain blinded until I decide to let you see again. I am going to tell you a secret. Come with me."

She took my hands and let me forward. I knew her apartment well enough to recognize the path to the bedroom.

"Oh?"

"What Jasmine Brighteyes does to you the nights you hold your receptions is not something we can do just anywhere."

"It's not?"

"Nor when you are bound to a chair or a table. We do not alter matter so indiscriminately."

"Oh?"

"Jasmine Brighteyes must plan ahead to encase you in that wall where we first met."

"Are you telling me I won't receive similar treatment tonight?"

I knew we had arrived in the bedroom, I thought just inside the doorway.

"Hands by your side, my pet."

I lowered my hands.

"No, that is not what I am telling you." Then I felt something at my feet, and in an instant, they were encased, as if in concrete.

"Oh god!"

Charo squeaked.

The encasing moved up my legs, trapping me. I struggled very briefly, then grew still.

"I always plan ahead," Charo said, still squeaking. "Surely you've learned that by now." It reached my waist, grabbing my hands, then up, and up. And then I knew I was standing in a pillar, there in the middle of the room, with only my face exposed.

"You can't do much to me like this," I said.

"It's transparent," she said. "I could enjoy looking at you."

I tried squirming briefly, but I was entirely immobile.

"I could have friends over," she added. "You could be a piece of the art."