Dreamlands (29 page)

“Kate, you shouldn’t be here,” McGann said.

Mrs. Murphy looked confused and angry. I knew that Murphy was married, because he wore a ring. But this woman didn’t look old enough to be his wife. It wasn’t that she looked like Fuse or Tamazusa, young and ageless, but Murphy looked about twenty years older than his wife.

“You call me up about Jim having a temper and hurting someone, and you expect me to sit at home? Jim is good man!” she cried. “I don’t know what happened, but he would never do what Wolf said that he did!”

“Then you should have come to see me, rather coming here,” McGann said. “You aren’t cleared for this anymore.”

“I’ve been a part of this operation for as long as you have!” she exclaimed. “Don’t give me that crap! I remember you when you were in high school, Caitlynn!”

McGann opened her mouth to say something and closed it again.

“Jim ordered two TCs to ‘question’ Keno about how much he had told those two about our operation.”

“They never asked any questions,” I whispered. I cringed when everyone in the room looked at me. “They just kept hurting me.

Murphy took over afterward, screaming. He kept hurting me because I wasn’t giving him the answers that he wanted.” Mrs. Murphy stood up, and Fuse moved in front of her. “Do not even think about it,” she hissed. “Do you want to know what was done to him? If I had not helped his body, he might have died.” FELICITAS IVEY

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“You’re lying!” Mrs. Murphy yelled. “He looks perfectly fine.” I was hungry, but I wasn’t going to tell them that. I wasn’t going to open my mouth again if I could help it; these people were scaring me, even Wolf. Wolf had this confused look in his eyes. I knew that he was trying understand everything. Not the beating, but that I was happy with Samojirou, about the story that Fuse had told us, and all the other craziness that was happening.

Fuse stepped closer to her. Mrs. Murphy flinched, and I saw how scary Fuse could be. She was almost as cold as Tamazusa. “Keno-chan’s brain had swollen from the repeated blows to his head, his fingers and toes were broken, and his internal injuries were extensive.

Your husband was responsible for all of it. Do not blame Keno-chan for this! He is a prisoner, like I am, but I was fortunate to have a protector.”

“And what did you―” Mrs. Murphy sneered.

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Fuse said darkly. “Mason-san has honor and expected nothing in return. The others here think that I am an animal to be studied. He does not.”

“You can’t be serious,” Mrs. Murphy said.

“I believe that the phrase used was ‘interesting specimen to examine’,” Fuse said scathingly. “To you people it means that I would be tortured until I died or was rescued.”

“That wouldn’t―” McGann stopped when Fuse glared at her.

“My family, my sons will enlist Tamazusa-sama’s help in rescuing me. Mason-san simply made sure that someone survived for that.”

“Tamazusa isn’t someone that we should worry about,” McGann said. “Heiseg and the ritual was what let her in her before. Anya assured me that we have nothing to worry about.” Wolf and Mason looked at each other. Fuse laughed. It was scornful, unlike the polite woman she was, even telling off Mrs.

Murphy. “You have angered a woman whom you should not have.

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Tamazusa-sama is powerful, and she will find a way in here. She is a woman who knows how to hate,” she finished with a whisper.

McGann looked confused, and I was grateful that neither Mason nor Wolf was telling her how true it was. I guess they didn’t believe it themselves.

“Keno?” McGann demanded.

I knew what she wanted, and I gave it to her. “Tamazusa-sama has always been kind to me, especially since the first night. I don’t think that I would have survived what had happened without her and Samojirou-sama.”

“What did she want with you?” McGann demanded.

“She took me as a present for Samojirou-sama,” I said carefully.

That sounded bad, and Wolf looked horrified. The rest of them were a little more cynical about it.

“Samojirou-sama always treated him with respect,” Fuse insisted.

“And how is that different from nabbing a kid because he hacked into us?” Mason asked sarcastically. “It wasn’t like Keno was living it high here. I’ve seen prisoners in max lockup treated better.”

“And you should know about that,” Mrs. Murphy commented in the same tone.

“Fuck, the wardens never let it be known that it was okay to rape someone,” Mason snarled, “like McGann and your old man did. Or did I read it wrong when me and Wolf told you that Keno was in trouble?

That Heiseg was gonna cross the line? That the rest of the staff thought that he was a fun toy to play with?”

“Mason―”

“Well, Murphy had a shitfit when I asked if Keno was part of the benefits plan. Your attitude was that if he could function afterward, what was the problem?”

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“Mason, I didn’t mean that!” McGann shrieked. “I didn’t think that the problem was as serious as you thought it was.” I wanted to crawl under the bed because they were arguing about me. I just started shaking and wanted to be anyplace but here. I wanted to be Samojirou’s rooms, waiting for him, to see how he was. Did he get hurt in what happened? Did Tamazusa?

“That’s what came out, but then we had been treating the kid like shit since we nabbed him,” Mason snapped. “Didn’t matter when he was a kid, but he grew up, and it got messy when he got pretty. Not that Keno should have been slapped around because the samples were bad or you were hung over, but that wasn’t as bad as what people had planned for him. Keno looked like shit all the time. And we all thought that it was normal.”

“Wolf, Jim would never have thought that was all right,” Mrs.

Murphy whispered raggedly. She sounded like she was going to cry.

“I don’t know,” Wolf said softly. “He never liked Keno. It was always a fight with him to get him more books or movies. We had several arguments about where I could take him when he finally allowed me to take Keno out of this place.” I remembered the first time that had happened. We went to the zoo. As soon as I got out of the garage here, my eyes burned, and I had tears running down my face. The sun was too bright after years of dim fluorescents, and it hurt. I was grateful when Wolf handed me sunglasses, looking guilty. He hadn’t even thought about the fact that I hadn’t seen the sun for so long it would hurt me. There were too many people, and it was too loud and bright, even though the place was half empty. We had to stop a lot and just sit because it was too overwhelming for me after years of isolation. I had gotten the impression that a lot of people thought that I was sick or something because I was so pale.

“And he was a complete asshole on the mission,” Mason added.

“Him and the ice… Romejinoff. What the fuck did she say that pissed that guy off so much?”

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Wolf winced, and I was just glad that they weren’t talking about me anymore.

Fuse frowned slightly. “The other woman? The taller one that sneered at everything? To be entertained in Tamazusa-sama’s private garden is an honor! She and Samojirou-sama are well known as gracious hosts and thoughtful guests.”

Mason shrugged. “Romejinoff was being more of a bitch than usual.”

“Mason!” Wolf exclaimed.

Mason looked at him crossly. “I never got along with the woman, you know that. She’s a whore who doesn’t have to be, with no thought to who she’s fucking over when she’s acting like that. What the fuck did she say that made that guy want to kill her?”

“Mason,” Wolf tried.

“Wolf, that bitch almost caused a fucking riot there,” Mason said.

“Mason!” McGann broke in. “Anya is―”

“A loose fucking cannon who shouldn’t have been there,” Mason growled. “But you and I know that she was there because Collins was being an asshole! How many of us were there because the man wanted us to be? To get rid of us? Because sure as shit, I know that Murphy didn’t pick his team.”

“You’re just being paranoid,” McGann said, her exhaustion clear.

“Is he?” Wolf asked suddenly. Everyone stared. “I would never want Anya on an op with me because she has a tendency to not follow orders, and she isn’t the most tolerant person that I know.” I shivered, because that was an understatement. She had been Heiseg’s girlfriend, and when he was getting weird and touching me, she had been getting more and more abusive, like she knew what he was doing. She was one of the people who liked slapping me a lot, especially if I didn’t get her research to her fast enough. She also called FELICITAS IVEY

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me names in Russian that I knew were bad, even if I didn’t understand what she was saying.

“Murphy didn’t pick his team,” McGann said. “If he had, Anya and I wouldn’t have been on it. He didn’t believe that noncombatants should be part of a field operation. Collins’s list for who went on this op was one that was influenced by petty spite.” SAMOJIROU

WE managed to get back to Tamazusa’s estate as fast as possible, even if it seemed too slow for me. I hated traveling by normal means, even if none of the others could walk the shadows as I did. I comforted myself with the fact that time in the real world moved slower than it did here.

Tamazusa had spent the week I was gone organizing her people and preparing for the battle. Inue had managed to keep his tongue in his head during the journey, so I didn’t kill him. I believed Inue realized even his uncle Inuta had lost patience with him.

“A group of my Reavers wish to come with me,” Tamazusa said when we arrived travel-stained and exhausted.

“Good,” I said. “They will protect you.” She smiled and motioned for the maids to attend us. Bathed and cleaned up, we met for dinner where Inusuka and Tamazusa discussed strategy, and she told us what she knew of the place that was holding Keno and Fuse prisoner. The rest of the
Hakkenshi
listened and commented but deferred to Inusuka’s leadership. It had been like that in the real world with their grandfather, Satomi, since Inusuka was his favorite grandson.

I felt helpless because I was not going on this mission with them.

I seethed over being trapped here, at feeling powerless. I felt the pity 217

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the others had for me and wanted to writhe in shame. When the dinner ended, Inuta patted me on the back before he went off to arm himself.

“I will care for the boy,” he rumbled. “Sousuke is to protect mother when we find her. The rest of us will fight. These people will know that they were foolish to try this.” I smiled, wondering if Keno would even trust this man enough to be protected by him. I trudged after them to see them through the gate.

I WAS stunned. One moment I was in my lady’s garden, and the next I was in this ugly grey room. The room was crowded with
Hakkenshi
and Reavers. My lady stared at me, shocked. “You are free,” she whispered.

I spared no thought for the miracle; I was simply relieved that I had been carrying a sword with me. I wasn’t armored like the rest of them, including Tamazusa. I had insisted that she wear armor since Keno had told me about their guns. The rest of them stared at us for a long, stunned moment. Inumura shook his head for a moment before kneeling on the floor and starting to chant. He had been tasked with chanting the spells that would shut down their technology while my lady was expanding her gate to cover part of the area here. Her Reavers would be guarding both of them. After a minute Tamazusa announced,

“It is done. The three levels above us are cut off from the outside world.”

When she said that, the lights flickered out, and the machines around us stopped humming. After a second, odd glowing lights came back on, scattering shadows about the place. I knew what I could do to help when that happened.

Inusuka frowned for a minute, revising the plans that he had made.

“Shinbee, Konbungo, take the second level above us. Genpachi and Sousuke, take the floor above us. Search carefully, because it is filled with those odd rooms called labs. Dousetsu, Yatsufusa, and I will take the top level.”

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I tied back my hair and my sleeves to keep them out of the way of my sword. Inusuka looked at me, and I stared back. The sensible thing was to leave me here with Tamazusa and Inumura, but I would not stay behind when Keno was so close to me. “Follow us up to the upper level,” he said.

“I can use the shadows to travel about this place,” I said. “I will sow confusion among our enemies while you search for Keno-chan and Fuse-hime.”

Inuyama grinned wolfishly. “Good hunting.” I nodded, bowed to Tamazusa, and stepped into the shadows.

MASON

KENO and Fuse were yanked out of the infirmary when McGann figured out that Keno was okay. McGann had this worried look in her eyes, and I didn’t like the fact that Collins and Fairinox were still hanging about. While Murphy had been confined to quarters on C level, those two were playing some sort of political game with Collins calling anyone he could think of to get him out of this mess. More Trustees were being contacted, and it was turning into a shitstorm.

Wolf decided that sticking to Keno was a good idea, while I continued to play bodyguard to Fuse. I wasn’t surprised when McGann decided to separate them. Fuse was sent down to one of the labs to be examined by a couple of more people, and Keno was going to be questioned by Fairinox and Collins. I didn’t like it but figured Wolf would cover his ass.

We had just gotten to the labs on D level when the lights went out.

I was glad that we weren’t stuck in one of the elevators, but I nearly shit myself when I heard the blast doors slam down. They were two floors above us, and I still heard the crash. That wasn’t a good thing.

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The eggheads with us looked around nervously after the noise of the crash. I thought their names were St. John and Samuels. Both had been with the Trust for a couple of years, and they were lab rats rather than fighters. St. John was some sort of aging surfer type, while Samuels was a geek who had less manners than I did.

Fuse glanced around in confusion. “Are the lights supposed to do that?”