His father\u2019s presence is almost physically stunning to Edmund.<\/p>\n
Hunger surges in him.<\/p>\n
It occurs to him that if he eats his father, then his father will be with him forever. He will be Edmund\u2019s <\/i>Mr. Gulley, forever, son and father to him; he will be wound through him and into him, and they will never be apart.<\/p>\n
Fred is standing there. He\u2019s just leaning against a fence, nearby, in his yellow, yellow hat.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s Morgan, too.<\/p>\n
Five or six of them, standing in a creepy circle. It distracts young Edmund. He shakes his head a few times. How did they even get in there? Where\u2019s the security?<\/p>\n
\u201cDad,\u201d he says. He waves vaguely at the students in their yellow hats.<\/p>\n
Faster than his eyes can track, they disperse.<\/p>\n
Edmund gnashes his teeth with hate, but after a while, he realizes that he\u2019s kind of glad that they\u2019d distracted him; that he didn\u2019t kill and eat his Dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing home was a mistake,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome in anyway,\u201d says Mr. Gulley. \u201cHe\u2019s downstairs if you want to go see him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to go see him,\u201d Edmund says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to kill him, . . .\u201d says Mr. Gulley leadingly.<\/p>\n
He fetches a pair of boots from the foyer. He holds them out to Edmund.<\/p>\n
Edmund shudders. He squints, to minimize the amount of his viewing field that is occupied by the boots. He gives his father a narrow-eyed look.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t be ridiculous, Dad,\u201d Edmund says.<\/p>\n
It strikes him suddenly that probably he could free the wolf by killing Mr. Gulley and eating him. He probably doesn\u2019t even really need permission. After all, Vaenwode stole the wolf, didn\u2019t he? That\u2019s practically like giving license.<\/i><\/p>\n
It will work. It makes sense. It is an excruciatingly good plan. A clever <\/i>plan. Just tear him up and the wolf goes free \u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cDad,\u201d says Edmund, \u201cdid you ever have this feeling like your clever plans might not be, you know . . . not so clever . . . ?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Gulley looks down at the boots in his hand. He looks up at Edmund.<\/p>\n
He sighs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the time, son,\u201d he says. \u201cAll the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fast forward a minute or two.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like,\u201d says Edmund, \u201cI think, how many of my life\u2019s problems has eating people actually solved?\u201d<\/p>\n
Fast forward.<\/p>\n
Edmund gestures vaguely. \u201cThere was this student,\u201d he says, \u201cand he had a rabbit\u2019s soul caught in his shadow, and I could see the chains, I could tear <\/i>the chains, I unhooked it, I let it go, but then I thought, shouldn\u2019t I just eat him?\u201d<\/p>\n
Fast forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was probably the worst possible moment to tell Bethany how I used to feel about her,\u201d Edmund says, \u201cso I didn\u2019t . . .\u201d<\/p>\n
Ah. Here we are.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you have to understand, Dad,\u201d says Edmund.<\/p>\n
He has his eyes closed in pain. This is because he is pinning his father against the wall with one hand, choking him, and his father has badly scratched his face. There is blood trickling down Edmund\u2019s face. It tastes unbearably good. He can\u2019t stop licking it. \u201cYou have to understand,\u201d Edmund says, \u201cI just want to stop wanting to eat you, and actually <\/i>eating you is the only way. . . .\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Gulley is only barely conscious now.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad,\u201d says Edmund. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry. Dad. Tell me it\u2019s OK. Please. I don\u2019t want to \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
He puts Mr. Gulley down. He looms over him. He stands there and the light through the window is blinding all around him and Mr. Gulley cannot see.<\/p>\n
\u201cSay something, Dad,\u201d says Edmund.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019ll kill the wolf too,\u201d says Mr. Gulley, \u201cI\u2019ll let you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edmund swallows. He blinks a time or two. He sways. \u201cPardon?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t let it go, son. It\u2019ll eat the world.<\/i> Kill it. Kill it and I won\u2019t mind you eating me. I\u2019ll face my death like a Gulley.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d says Edmund. \u201cNo, Dad. I\u2019d be alone. Don\u2019t make me. Don\u2019t do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo it and I\u2019ll let<\/i> you, son.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Edmund-beast shoves Mr. Gulley\u2019s head back through the wall. It shakes the man\u2019s shoulders. It drags him up and it bites through his shoulder in one snap. It lifts its head. It howls.<\/p>\n
There is an answering howl.<\/p>\n
It is an awful wind. It shivers it \u2014 the beast-it, the Edmund-it. It staggers it.<\/p>\n
The Edmund-beast lets a bit of Mr. Gulley drop from its mouth. It steps back. Its irises are palest silver in a field of white, and there is no pupil to be seen.<\/p>\n
The howl of Fenris does not fall off or fade, but grows louder. A wind begins to rattle at the house.<\/p>\n
The Edmund-beast takes a step backwards. Then another.<\/p>\n
The wind rises. Papers scatter. Cupboards rattle. Mr. Gulley bleeds.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d whispers Edmund. \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upstairs, his bedroom door bursts open. The Edmund-beast staggers. His heart is flung, box and all, into the wall.<\/p>\n
The wind rises further.<\/p>\n
Wood splits, splinters, breaks.<\/p>\n
Edmund is made open to the world.<\/p>\n
His mind is drowned. He can feel every boot pulsing in the house. He can feel the hunger roaring through him, so much that he cannot find his mouth or hands. And he realizes at last his weakness, the one part of him the hunger doesn\u2019t run through, the one thing that keeps stopping him, keeps slowing him down, keeps distracting him from his very simple goal of eating people and breaking the bonds upon the wolf, his heart, but he can\u2019t find it, he can\u2019t get <\/i>to it and devour it, he can\u2019t even figure out simple things like stairs and doorways with his senses so utterly overwhelming and alive.<\/p>\n
It beats, upstairs from him, hideous and loud, like the clanking, rattling footfalls of a cat. It won\u2019t stop beating.<\/p>\n
He passes out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
His father\u2019s presence is almost physically stunning to Edmund. Hunger surges in him. It occurs to him that if he eats his father, then his father will be with him forever. He will be Edmund\u2019s Mr. Gulley, forever, son and father to him; he will be wound through him and into him, and they will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"series":[47],"class_list":["post-5349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-storm-that-saw-itself-chapter-5","series-the-storm-that-saw-itself"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Hat_4_nobg.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5349","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=5349"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6128,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5349\/revisions\/6128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5349"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/books.hitherby.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=5349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}