21 – BACK

When Tommy came to his senses again, he felt that he was in a bed, and that the bed was extremely comfortable and warm. The fabric of the sheets, and the mattress too were smooth and silky. For a moment, he felt like closing his eyes again, to return to the peaceful slumber that had taken him. But then the memory of what happened in the forest came back to him, and he realized that he had been injured, and that he had fainted and hit his head. Checking for some sort of pain, he found none, and felt with his hand that the back of his head was smooth and clean.

The room was dark. There was barely any light cutting through the darkness, and even with his remarkable eyes he could barely see anything. Shadows lurked everywhere, and sometime danced around as if alive, with motions of their own. For a moment, he wondered if those were indeed alive, watching him closely like hounds, waiting patiently by his bed, controlled by an unknown master. By the shut window he spotted a figure, sitting on a large chair, clad in darkness, and his attention shifted to him, rather than the shadows.

He stared at the shadowy figure of a man, large and looming against what little light was coming in from outside. Barely a moment later, the room was plunged back into obscurity as a passing cloud hid the sun behind its misty veil, and the figure melted back into nothingness, no longer visible. Tommy felt his heart thump loudly in his chest, and the memory of many past experiences resurfaced like a raging river, smashing through his mental defenses. They were feeble, and felt weak, when he was faced with his demons. The shadows were all-encompassing now, and encroached him and drowned him in their cold fingers.

He tried to calm down. He needed to be quiet, and unassuming, so that the watchful man hidden in the darkness would think him still sound asleep. As he calmed down, and as his thoughts returned to a more rational state, he saw that the shadows were immobile, and that apart from the man in the chair, he was alone in the room. He stood still. At least he would buy himself some time to formulate a plan, something that could help him escape this place.

He found solace in the thought that he was no longer alone in this world. He felt his panic, and his fears lessen, as he brought to his awareness the fact that now he had someone who cared for him, and who would undoubtedly find him and rescue him from this place. The past would not repeat itself this time. And so, he waited, still and silent, evening his breath, and at times mumbling softly to simulate sleep.

But then a thought crossed his mind, and once again threw his fragile mental state in disarray. What if Calvin was in danger? What if he needed him now, and could not come to rescue him because he was incapacitated and in need for help himself?

He tried to suppress those thoughts. Calvin is strong, and he is not stupid. He told himself this, and many other reassuring things, and they worked for a brief time, but then again, he felt the fear, the agony and the rage of the sole thought that his big brother was in danger crawl from beneath his skin.

He was not going to wait here. He was going to act.

After carefully considering his plan, it was time to act. With a single swift motion, he threw the thick covers that were on top of him against the man in the chair, to blind him. It took all his little strength to yank the sheets out of the bedding and to throw them, but he was pleased to see that the man was now momentarily blinded.

“What the—” He heard him say, and he immediately bolted for the door.

But as soon as he was right in front of the door, he realized with horror that he could no longer move. Some force was keeping him in place, and he felt that very thing that was holding him steady as it crawled up his legs and lifted him up. It felt cold, liquid, hard and unforgiving while at the same time soft and malleable. But it was not up to him to mold that sheet of force, he was not its master. That man was. He almost closed his eyes, accepting the fact that his plan had failed and he was going to get punished, but he did not. He decided, instead, to fight with all his will and strength against the bindings. He thrashed and kicked and screamed, but it was useless.

He saw the room from above, and the faint laughter of the mysterious figure. Then, he was deposited on the bed, and the man opened the shutters and let the light of day bathe the room. It felt like a flood, and his eyes struggled to adjust to the new light levels, and he could only see a blurry figure for a moment. But the voice he heard could not be confused for anyone else in the world.

“Easy there,” the man chuckled again, “or you’re gonna terrorize the whole neighborhood!”

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His eyes went wide, and the light resolved itself from around the man to reveal his silhouette and a slight glimpse of his face. Tommy jumped to his feet.

“Calvin!” And he ran to embrace him.

“Whoa,” Calvin said, after the equivalent of a small sack of potatoes impacted with his chest. “Take it easy, you’re still weak.”

The little demi-human didn’t seem to care, and was only preoccupied with hugging his big brother as hard as he could.

“Why did you attack me? Who did you think I was?” Calvin asked Tommy, speaking between laughs.

“It was dark! And I thought they had taken me, or something. I was worried!”

“Aw. How cute. Thank you for worrying. But I’m quite okay, unlike someone who was injured in the explosion and didn’t say anything.”

Tommy looked downcast for a moment, then his gaze wandered to the outside. “We’re back in Pyee, then?”

Calvin nodded.

“At least,” the younger boy said, “this is the place they will least expect to find us. Unless they manage to predict we would act like this. But then again, they could also predict that we predict that, and the whole point is moot.”

“Let me check your head one second.” Calvin joked, and the two laughed.

Then, Tommy asked him what happened after he lost consciousness, and after putting the boy back in bed under the warm blankets to fend off the winter air, Calvin began to speak.

“I heard a sound, and when I turned to see what happened, you were on the ground, immobile. There was a small puddle of blood beneath you and it was slowly getting bigger, and I felt anger and fear get the best of me. The first thing I thought was that someone had found us, and that they hurt you while trying to get to me. I looked around, scanned the whole forest with all my senses. But there was nothing, nothing out of the ordinary that would indicate that we had been followed.

I ordered Computer to find them, to show me where the enemies where, and my whole vision became flooded with windows, messages, statistics and data. I tried to make sense of it, and eventually got the confirmation I needed to be sure that we were still alone. And then, I realized that I had wasted too much time. For a second, I feared it would be too late, and I was almost scared of what I could find once I turned around to inspect you.

But I still did. I turned back to you. My sole thought was that you were going to die, because the injury at the back of your head looked bad, and there was a lot of blood, but I didn’t want you to die. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t dare to try and fix your body with the nanites. I almost did, but thankfully I stopped myself in time because neither I nor Computer had the slightest idea how your body was supposed to work. I know a human body, and that of a bear since I analyzed them both, but what if there were differences? I could have killed you, there and then, if I let panic take over.

I didn’t. Fortunately, I have to add. I would have never forgiven myself… but back to the point. You had lost a lot of blood from the nasty cut at the back of your head. You probably were cut by a splinter when the explosion sent us flying through the trees. I thought I had protected you, but it wasn’t enough it seems. I’m really sorry.” He paused.

“I analyzed some of your blood, and used the data I got from it to replicate it. Then, I patched up the wound as best I could, coating it with a thin layer of nanites programmed to become sticky and flexible, so that they would hold the wound closed until I got better help. After that, I gave you the blood you needed… you were so white and cold, but then you regained some color, and I picked you up and ran towards the city. All the way I kept an eye open to see if anybody was around, and I had to take many alternative paths whenever the road was too trafficked, or when I thought we could be seen by prying eyes.

Maybe they would not think twice about us, but maybe they would have connected your injury to the explosion, and that would have been a problem. While I walked, Computer also analyzed your blood. It found some… strange things there. It talked about genetic markers for splicing and cutting, although I didn’t understand much of it. Do these words mean anything to you?”

Tommy shook his head.

“Well, it’s okay I suppose. In any case, as soon as I reached Pyee I rented a room in another inn at the other end of the city, as you can see, we are quite close to the river now. Then, I left you in bed and ran off to search for medicine. Computer kept talking about surgery, and how we needed to at least find information about your physiology to cure you, but I remembered that I could just use a healing potion and let the magic do the thing.

I went to find an alchemist, and discreetly took scans of all the potions that were on display there. But then I found out, to great dismay, that I could not recreate them out of the nanites. All the elements and compounds were there, but the replicated potions simply didn’t work. And I had no idea why. There was no noticeable difference between the two. Then I realized. The missing thing was magic. And I could not see that it was missing because I can no longer sense it like before, nor can I replicate it like I can the other materials. I can somewhat feel it if I concentrate, and Computer talked about dark energy and many possible ways to harness it, but there was no time.

The easiest solution was to just replicate some money and buy the potions. So, I went back to another alchemy shop, the only other shop in town I found out, and bought enough potions to last us for a while. Then I ran back here and fed it to you, and I stood watch ever since.”

Tommy thought for a moment. His face was pensive, but there was an echo of a faint smile on his lips, and his expression was serene and untroubled.

“How long?”

“Three days.”

“Oh.” He said. Then he smiled. “Thank you for staying with me.”

Calvin smiled. “Of course, that’s what brothers do, right?” He asked.

“Yes, it is.”