Edmund knocks on Andrea\u2019s door. He opens it. He leans in.<\/p>\n
For a moment the room is empty.<\/p>\n
Then a heart beats and chains pull taut; the nithrid condenses, draws down from static cling in the socks and the dust bunnies and lightning in the machines, and becomes a girl.<\/p>\n
She stares at him. Her eyes are blank.<\/p>\n
\u201cWow,\u201d says Edmund.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes,\u201d she says, and her voice has a catch in it, \u201csometimes I think I can almost get free of it. If I hold my breath. If I stop my heart. I can almost pull apart and stay <\/i>\u2014 anyway, who the hell are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry,\u201d says Edmund. He sketches a bow. \u201cEdmund Gulley, at your service.\u201d<\/p>\n
She is a blur of motion. She has a knife. She is holding it to his throat. He snarls. She is still stretching forward to attack, she has not secured her position yet, and that is why he is able to lean and skip back away, his leg coming up to smash its knee into her elbow; his leg is turning even as it rises and he snaps a followup kick out at her head.<\/p>\n
She moves even faster now; she fogs out into a mist of storm and plunges at him, swinging a dozen knives held by a dozen strands of hair. He turns through them, snapping two of the knives out of the air and swallowing them down with his wolf-bite; his back is to her for a moment, and then he is coming in, his hand extended and his white teeth bared \u2014<\/p>\n
Her hair is wrapped around him; its ends still hold ten knives.<\/p>\n
He is tense, frozen, but when they do not cut him he relaxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are not Edmund Gulley,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cJunior<\/i>,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
She hesitates. \u201cWhat, really?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh.\u201d She pulls away from him. \u201c\u2014 Why you people have such redundant names, I will never know.\u201d<\/p>\n
He frowns at her. \u201cAnyway,\u201d he says. \u201cDad said there was a nithrid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d says the nithrid. \u201cI generate power and eat storms. And take classes. I am \u2018a highly convenient monstrosity.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWicked,\u201d says Edmund. \u201cThe wolf mostly generates dander.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comment falls flat.<\/p>\n
The nithrid stares sadly at Edmund.<\/p>\n
\u201cDear God,\u201d says Edmund, realizing. \u201cDid Dad say that too?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not a bad thing,\u201d she says, without formally admitting it, \u201cfor a son to be like his father. You \u2014 you are his son, yes? Not the junior to some other Edmund Gulley?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought so,\u201d she says. \u201cIt is an in-family arrangement. I can see the wolf in you, I think, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
He shrugs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the way you almost bit my head off and drooled acidic spittle,\u201d she says. \u201cBut instead just kind of drooled a little.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edmund embarrassedly wipes the corner of his mouth. \u201cI was ravening<\/i>,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d she says. \u201cNo doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s true!\u201d he says. \u201cSometimes I go ulfserk! It\u2019s like berserking, only, less ber, more ulf.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLicking my face like a puppy and the like?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes! No!\u201d<\/p>\n
He frowns at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is ridiculous. Wolves do not do that. They are noble and vicious predators.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI suppose,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s all the same from the vantage of the storm.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like you,\u201d concludes Edmund.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody does,\u201d she says. She turns away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just thought \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy Dad,\u201d says Edmund. \u201cI thought, he wanted us to \u2014 I don\u2019t even know. So I thought I would introduce myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are tangled,\u201d she says. \u201cIn my chains.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will break them,\u201d she says. \u201cI think. That is interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n
She turns back to him. She studies him. She places her hand flat upon his chest. She tilts her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have a heart attack,\u201d she says, \u201cI cannot help you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
She frowns.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a waste of my learning to jump-start someone\u2019s heart,\u201d she says, \u201cif you are going to go around keeping it someplace else. Next you shall tell me that there is no point in my studying emergency medicine at all because I cannot treat somebody without shocking and distressing them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d Edmund says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was not previously what I was going to say next,\u201d he says. \u201cBut now, you may take it as stated.\u201d<\/p>\n
She considers this.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will teach you to kill,\u201d she says. \u201cI will teach you to dance. I will teach you to call the lightning. Then you will shatter the chains that are binding on us and I will boil back out to the sky. It will be a glorious transformation and the Heavens shall be made glad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t ask \u2014\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t either,\u201d she says. \u201cYou will learn these things. I have decided it. If you refuse me, then I shall kill you here and now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think so,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m Edmund Gulley.\u201d<\/p>\n
She grits her teeth.<\/p>\n
\u201cFine,\u201d she says, after a while staring at him. \u201cIf you refuse, I will get very angry, and write a stern letter, and never talk to you again, but I suppose that I won\u2019t kill you. It would be against your human manners. But you will do it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you are like your father,\u201d she says. \u201cYou do not want to bind things. You want to shatter chains and let your bound wolf free.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t what father wants,\u201d says Edmund.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s almost reflex.<\/p>\n
Then after a while he says, with a catch in his voice, \u201cIs it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will teach you,\u201d she says. \u201cYou will fly, Edmund. You will be free of the gravity of the world. You will dance, and you will call up lightning, and you will kill. You will become strong and you will break your chains.\u201d<\/p>\n
She breathes. Her heart beats painfully. She closes her eyes. She turns to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome,\u201d she says. \u201cPreemptive repayment: I will set you free.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edmund hesitates a long moment. Then he nods.<\/p>\n
\u201cOK,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
She walks out into the hall. All the other doors close. She waves upwards at the ceiling and the light turns on. Edmund shivers as if \u2014<\/p>\n
This is what he thinks. It\u2019s completely silly but he thinks it anyway \u2014<\/p>\n
As if the ghost of a duck were glaring at him from her back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are we going?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t dance indoors,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s human insanity. So we will take our lessons \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWait,\u201d says Edmund. \u201cYou want us to dance in the quad?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
She looks over her shoulder at him.<\/p>\n
He looks down.<\/p>\n
He masters his embarrassment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank God,\u201d he finally says, \u201cfor my wooden box.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Edmund knocks on Andrea\u2019s door. He opens it. He leans in. For a moment the room is empty. Then a heart beats and chains pull taut; the nithrid condenses, draws down from static cling in the socks and the dust bunnies and lightning in the machines, and becomes a girl. She stares at him. Her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"series":[47],"class_list":["post-4971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chapter-1","series-the-storm-that-saw-itself"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Jewel_Partial_Chains.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4971"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6183,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4971\/revisions\/6183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4971"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=4971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}