Fervor (7 page)

“
Rule number one of the Directives is fairly simple. You will respect the order of things as set out by the Directives, including acceptance of your place within your talent-group and your house-family. Your responsibility as a talent supersedes your obligation to your house-family. If there is any question as to how you should respond to a particular situation based on the Directives, you are to ask your Teller, who will brief you on the matter,”
the Tellers instructed.

“
What does that mean?”
Sarah asked. A similar response from others echoed through the connection.

“
It means that we have to do as we’re told, that Francis is the boss, and that if we don’t know how things work, we have to ask him,”
Fiona responded, not trying to hide her annoyance.

“
It means that you’re a Fixer first and a part of our family second,”
Nathan added. Sam had been planning to add his own response, but the growing buzz within the connection was starting to become debilitating and he leaned back against Nathan, his head spinning. There were multiple protests, expressions of fear and worry, some outbursts of anger and some lamentations. Not everyone within the connection was reacting to what they were being told in the same way, there was even some nonplussed acceptance and disinterested apathy in the mix, but while there was an extreme overall emotional response to the Tellers’ words, there was one thing definitely not there. There was no actual resistance.

The Tellers waited for the chaos in the connection to settle before starting in on their next rule.

“
Rule number two relates to the things that were left behind by the minders and the teachers, and all of the buildings that are not family-houses. The only people permitted to enter these buildings or handle those items that require magic that you have not been trained to use are the Keepers. That is part of their purpose, to maintain these things for possible future use.”

Another wave of shock and confusion ran through the connection. Sam and Nathan had already broken this rule unwittingly, and Sam was startled at the realization that Francis had not corrected him – had even encouraged him at the time. Of course, he had entered the storehouse out of necessity, and Fiona had not been with him when he had gone in, in search of food. He suspected based on the general reaction out there, that they had not been the only ones.

“
But what if I need to find things...?”
Sam questioned.

“
I think once you know where they are, you’ll have to depend on Fiona to get them for us from now on. That is, if they’re not out in the open,”
Sarah offered quietly.

“
Great,”
Sam grumbled. He had been thinking he had a valuable gift, but now it seemed less significant. He didn’t like the idea of enforced co-dependency, be it in the form of having Fiona play fetcher to his finding, or having to rely on Nathan for protection from Royce.

“
Rule number three, once everyone has their controls for the connection in place, you will always knock before proceeding into someone else’s space. You will only be permitted to push though without knocking if there is an emergency. The Directives outline what qualifies as an emergency. Your Teller will brief you on that. We know that this may seem difficult to believe, but we understand your need for privacy, and that need will be respected. All of these rules will apply to the Tellers just as they apply to everyone else,”
the Tellers continued.

The connection had now become uncomfortably quiet, and Sam could not help but wonder who had really organized all of this and why, especially if the Tellers had to live by the same rules as everyone else did. Who would steal away their normalcy and throw them into this bizarre, adult-less chaos, and why?

“
And we feel it important to let you know that the laws of the island still apply. Just because the minders and the teachers are gone, doesn’t mean that you can behave however you choose. Those laws will be enforced,”
the Tellers affirmed. They did not explain how, or by whom, but the children trusted enough in the truth of the connection that they did not doubt them.

“
Your Tellers will now return to you. They will provide you with the basics on how to develop the tools that you will need to deal with the connection, and after you feel sufficiently prepared, you may fetch the keys and directions to your family-house and make your way there. When we are satisfied that you have the proper controls in place, other changes will come. Until then, play the part of your designated role within your talent group, practice your controls, and try to live harmoniously with the other members of your house-family. Make your gifts and the connection work for you. If you want more information then that is the first step that you must take.”
That seemed to bring an end to their commands as a group.

Sam felt a rush of relief as he saw the Tellers begin to disperse, and then caught sight of Francis returning to them through the crowd. For some reason, he felt as though the blond boy were his only real link between the present and the past.

Francis led the five of them to a quieter spot at the back of the hall, and then proceeded to show them the basics of blocking others out of their thoughts – all of them but Royce, that is. The black haired boy watched them impatiently, wearing a disgruntled expression as he paced and fidgeted. More than once Sam turned to find Royce’s eyes glued to him with an intensity and a bitterness that Sam just could not comprehend. It was distracting, and made a difficult task even more difficult.

By the end of Francis’s little introductory session, Sam could manage walls that were as effective as tissue paper, when they would stay up at all, and the others were not faring any better. He could see why after two years of practice, with his more limited strength, Francis had only succeeded in reinforcing his walls to the equivalent of mental pressboard. It was going to take a lot of practice – a proper investment of time and effort. On the other hand, Sam suspected that the newly Connected would have more incentive than the Tellers had to put up their walls. If Sam had it figured correctly, with only fifty fairly weak Tellers making up the connection to begin with, all of whom having at least an inkling of what was going on, it would not have been nearly as noisy in their heads as it currently was in his. He figured if he could concentrate more than he was able to at the moment, it would have made things a lot easier.

“
That’s all that I can show you for now,”
Francis insisted. “
It’s up to you to practice, and work at developing them more so that they really work. Once you can effectively block out the others, then I’ll show you how to make a door to let them in again when you want to. You’ll all have to learn how to knock, too, and push in emergencies, just like the Directives instruct.”

“
And you know how to do all of these things?”
Fiona asked.

“
In theory, and I have been practicing, but as you are all aware now, I’m still not perfect either. Now come on, let’s go get our keys and head for home. We’ll be right on the coast, so I’m afraid it’s going to be a long trip. Until we get close enough, we have to look for it the old fashion way. There’s no one waiting for us there to guide our Finder,”
the Teller advised.

The five others followed him to the designated area where the things that they needed to get them into their new home were located. Then they allowed their Teller to lead them away, feeling as lost as ever.

* - * - *

Sam awoke groggily to gentle shaking and a familiar whisper in his head. They had been forced to sleep outside, still days away from their house. It was a little cool out, but least it had not been raining.

“
Wake up, Sam. Remember our promise – special friends? There’s so much to talk about. I made sure the others were all asleep. Then I had to make sure that I found you and wasn’t trying to shake someone else awake. I’m still not used to not being able to see. It’s really difficult to tell the difference between people by touch alone. If you weren’t smaller than everyone else, I’m not sure that I would have gotten it right.”

“
Sarah?”

Shrugging away his drowsiness, Sam glanced up at his small friend, who was kneeling next to him with her hand on his arm. He tentatively reached out through the connection to make sure that she wasn’t mistaken. She was right – Nathan, Francis, and Fiona were all unavailable.

“
What about Royce?”

“
I’m not sure which one of the others is him, but even if he’s awake, at least he won’t be able to hear us. I’ll lie down right here. If we keep our eyes closed, he won’t be able to tell that we’re awake,”
the wisp of a girl replied softly.

“
He doesn’t like me,”
Sam sighed inside as he lay back and shut his eyes again.
“In fact, I think he hates me. I don’t know why. I haven’t been able to talk to him. I don’t know how I could have offended him.”

“
I think that I know why,”
Sarah confessed. Sam enjoyed talking to her through the connection, all alone like this. Even though she had such strength, her thoughts were always so gentle. Sort of like an elephant tiptoeing through the jungle.

“
You were distracted at the time, but I wasn’t, and I could hear all of their inside thoughts – the deep ones that were supposed to be hidden. Even from Francis. He was thinking that Royce was jealous, that he blamed you for him being a Control, and not one of the Connected. Apparently, until they decided that they wanted the Controls, until they actually made the Littles to fill the gaps, Royce was supposed to be a Finder. Francis believes that Royce sees it as your fault that he is as deaf to the connection as you are to the rest of the world. Francis is worried that he’s going to try and take that out on you somehow, especially after what happened at the Gathering today.”

“
Oh,”
was all that Sam could manage in response to this, as his stomach churned and his heart rate elevated.

This was nothing that he had actually done, nor was there anything that he could possibly change to mend fences with the black-haired boy. It was all a matter of perspective, Royce’s perspective, and not even Francis had the ability to influence that. It wasn’t even the case of Royce being a typical bully. The Control was under the impression that he had good reason to despise Sam, and perhaps all of the Littles. There was resentment there. It was not some minor insecurity that could be erased with an offer of goodwill, and Sam wondered if all the Controls shared Royce’s point of view.

“
I’m sorry, Sam. I wish that I could fix this, but I can’t,”
Sarah murmured in his mind.
“To be honest with you, I think that Francis is scared, even if he hides it well. He was expecting some irritation, but he didn’t think that Royce would be this hostile about it. Francis knows that if Royce chooses to ignore the rules, there’s nothing that he can do about it. The ones who left the Directives had a solution in case the Tellers abused their power, that’s one of the reasons why they created the Controls in the first place, but who is there to handle the Controls if they don’t stick to the plan?”

“
At least Nathan seems to be on my side,”
Sam mumbled.

“
He won’t always be able to watch out for you,”
Sarah warned
. “He has his own needs, just as we have. You need to find, I need to fix and he needs to watch, but it won’t always be you that he’s watching. I’m guessing, from what I got from Francis, that he has a specific area he has to cover. He’s not just watching for our sake – he’s watching for them, the ones who came up with the Directives, and the ones who set this all up. Francis was thinking that while you were looking for Nathan.”

“
He said that it would be hard to test his gift. Maybe that’s why. If it’s something he just does, maybe there aren’t a lot of ways to tell if he’s actually doing it, just like with Fiona.”

“
She may be hiding it better, but she seems to be almost as angry as Royce is, and she blames Francis for her troubles. She wants everything back the way that it was, and I don’t think anyone’s going to be able
to change her mind about that. She doesn’t like either of us, but at least she doesn’t hold us at fault. She doesn’t actually hate us, but she believes that she’s going to be expected to play the part of substitute minder for us, and she’s not happy about that. She considers us a nuisance,”
Sarah explained, trying to keep her thoughts quiet, and directed completely at Sam.

“
You heard all of this through the connection – these things that I wasn’t aware of, these things that they didn’t want you to know?”