After what felt like several days but could just as well have been one, someone entered the room. He was a kestrel man but his attire distinguished him as above the usual grunts, some kind of higher officer.
He sat down at the seat by the table and he gestured for me to take the chair opposite.
“How are you doing Liz?” he asked.
“Do I get a lawyer?”
He chuckled. “No.”
“what?!”
“We are not the police, our duty is far more important than simply sorting through riff raff and as such we aren’t bidden by petulant bureaucracies.”
“Ach… what do you want then?”
“To start I’d like your full and honest account of the events that transpired leading up to this recent incident, the sooner you can do that the sooner you ca do that the sooner we can all move on.”
All we want from you is your full account of events.”
“And then what? what happens to me?” I asked.
“that depends on what you tell us, but if you speak the truth and cooperate with us, we can perhaps come to an accord.”
“If you guys aren’t bidden by any ‘petulant bureaucracies’ then what guarantee do I have that you aren’t just going to screw me over afterwards?”
“I’m afraid there are no guarantees with anything in life, but your two options are to cooperate or impede. I think you can at least believe your chances are much better going with the former.”
“I suppose so.”
“Before we begin, are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?”
“Yes, I would.”
“What do you want?”
“What are my options?”
“Whatever we can get from town.”
“in that case how about… cookies and cream cheese cake.”
He looked surprised.
“really? not very nutritious.”
“If it might be my last meal, I’d like it to be something good.”
I was hoping that he’d laugh and dismiss my concern but he didn’t, My statement marinated in an excruciating silence.
“…very well.” He finally said.
I really hope that doesn't mean what I think it means… These guys and their psychological bullshite…
He returned a while later with the cheese cake. It was delicious for the first few bites but soon became too rich and sat poorly in my stomach which was doubly poor from my stress.
I should have just gotten a pizza instead, some fancy Italian marinara…
“My name is Declan by the way.” Said the officer. “I don’t believe I had an opportunity to tell you earlier.”
“Aye.”
“Now, then to prepare us both, I’d like you to take a brief psychological test.” he placed some papers on the table
“eh?”
He took out a metronome and placed it on the table between us to face me. It was a bizarre looking object with something resembling an eye sitting near the top, almost like the face of a grandfather clock.
When it started to tick, it did so with an unusually fast rate.
“What's that for?”
“A device to help us focus, Now what is your name?”
“Lizbet Maclamont.”
“What is your age?”
“17.”
“your favorite color?”
“black? Or orange maybe?”
“Do you believe you deserve to be here?”
“I- no?”
The metronomes pace quickened momentarily.
“Eh?”
I leaned in to get a closer look at the thing as I did the eye on the metronome followed me.
“Hey! that thing just moved!”
As if responding to my reaction, its pace sped up again, its speed keeping up for longer this time
“It might do that every now and then.”
“Is that-? An icon?”
Declan looked up at me but said nothing.
“Pay it no mind.” He said finally.
“can you at least point it the other way?”
“no.” he smiled slightly after speaking.
I moved my body around to see the eye follow me.
“It's creepy.”
“Are you afraid of such a tiny thing?”
“no but-“
The ticking sped up once again.
“Wait, is this thing like a lie detector?”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Something like that.”
Shite.
“Couldn’t you use it on yourself to prove to me the sincerity of your offer?”
“no point, I know how to trick it.”
But I didn’t know that! You could just-?
“Now then, it's been calibrated so I’d like you to tell me your account of events.”
I sighed loudly.
“So what exactly do you want to know?”
“Everything, from the beginning.”
“well…”
In the end I told the full story and confessed to everything, given that this was as far as I knew a professional interrogator with a lie detector who may or may not know more than he let on, I decided it was the safest course of action.
I had literally been caught red handed. Red bodied for that matter.
There's no way I’d convince anyone I wasn’t guilty of something.
“and everything you told me is the truth? No missing details?” Declan asked when I finished.
“That's all there is, all true.”
The metronome maintained its consistent rate.
“I see… your story is quite interesting to us Liz… it sounds like quite the ordeal for one thing.” He said.
“you don’t say… so what happens now?”
“Well, a thought occurs to me… you see Liz, exposure to the strange of the Field can make people behave in ways they wouldn’t ordinarily, say and do things entirely out of their character.”
“So I've heard.”
“Its far from impossible that demons or- demon adjacent entities are capable of similar pernicious influence.”
“what are you saying?”
“Well, for all we know this ‘hand demon’ as you called it could have compelled you, against your own desires and perhaps against your own will, you told us this creature communicated to you in your dreams, that’s a definite symptom of possession.”
Is he saying what I think he’s saying?
“After all, you've never done anything like this before, you have no criminal record. It’s more than possible that with the right information we could even be able to prove you were just a hapless pawn in all this, a completely innocent victim.”
None of that was true, I knew it and I was fairly sure he knew it too.
“Do you understand what I’m trying to say here Liz?”
He was making me an offer, a pretty good one too all things considered.
“I do sir.”
“very good, but that does depend on what information you can help us obtain regarding this… hand entity.”
“Aye, what do you want to know?”
“First of all, we’d like to meet them.”
They let me rest for the night before taking me out to the pot the next morning.
We started by having me attempt to call it alone, but to no avail, nothing I said or threw into the pot incited any kind of reaction.
Eventually they tired of waiting and with a small army of men using rudimentary tools of leverage, tipped the contents of the cauldron into a large glass container.
As it flowed out a dreadful vision flashed across my eyes, of a pale, sodden, almost fetal-like body falling out with the flow, one with my hair and wearing a warped mask of my face. It's empty eye sockets staring out, bearing a rictus grin with all its teeth.
But the water was empty, besides a brownish tint, there weren't so much as even dead leaves within it.
That thing had gotten out of the pot to remove my skin… who knows what happened to it…
Kestrel personnel returned me to my cell and let me stew for a while longer before Declan visited me again.
“We have the test results back from that water.”
“and?”
“nothing, no trace of anything, not you or your peers, no animals, it's just dirty rain water.”
“what does that mean?”
“It means we’re disappointed.”
“I wasn’t lying- I-“ I started.
“-I don’t believe you were, at least not to your own knowledge. But that fact is that nothing you’ve told us has been of any use.”
“I’m sorry but… that's not my fault.”
“No, but your end of the agreement was that you helped us obtain information, and you have failed in this.”
“that’s not fair i-“
He held up his hand.
“We have wasted enough time on you.”
“So what, you're just leaving me stuck in this cell?”
“We have nothing to gain in locking you up Lizbet, the GFA subminsters and flunkeys might get a kick back for sealing away capricious delinquents but for us it comes out of our own budget and reduces what we have to spend on things we actually need.”
“Then you're just gonna take me out that back and wipe me off the records?”
“Do you really think you’re significant enough to warrant an execution? That you’re somehow a threat to us?”
“well i-?”
“What are you capable of Lizbet? The pot is gone.”
“Then what?”
“then nothing, we’re done with you, you’re free to go.”
He dropped my clothes and handbag from that night into my hands, folded and washed.
“just- just like that?”
“just like that.”
“seriously? After all that?”
“Are you disappointed?”
“I kinda figured you’d want to punish me.”
“I personally believe the consequences of one's sin are oft punishment enough.”
“All of that and you’re letting me off with a guilt trip?”
His expression betrayed a tiny smirk, one that made me feel very uneasy.
“Farewell Lizbet, I doubt we’ll meet again.” He went to leave.
“wait.”
“what is it?”
“You said the pot is gone, gone where?”
“somewhere it can be put to use.”
“Use? You didn’t destroy it or lock it away? Are you insane?”
“I don’t see why we should need to.”
“I don’t see why you even let that thing sit there for so long in the first place? it was obviously demonic in some way.”
He smirked again, but he made no attempt to hide it.
“You poor thing, who do you think placed it there in the first place?”
“what?”
“did you imagine it was rolled up that hill by a band of roving wildmen?”
“Are you saying that was you? You put that there?”
“We couldn't get it to respond to us so we needed someone else to try in our stead.”
My mouth hung open.
“I- what?! That’s- that's insane! that's entrapment!”
“It would have only qualified as entrapment if we charged you with anything but as you see, you are free to go.”
“but I don’t understand-? why?”
“Knowledge, my girl, the most valuable thing in this new age is knowledge. The wars in times to come will dictate the future of this world and they will not be won by technology or manpower but by that which is known and that which is not.”
“and you’re- you’re just telling me this?”
“It's entirely self evident to anyone of significance.”
“I’m insignificant?!”
“Of course, Are you really going to debate that?”
“You think that being some bureaucrat’s lapdog makes you important.”
He shrugged. “There's nothing inherently wrong with being insignificant, people who can be content with that get to avoid being made a demon's pawn.”
“I'm no one's pawn!”
“Then what? A murderer? Is that your great claim to glory?”
“I’m not a murderer! I didn’t know they were-”
“-They died from a curse that was made of you, at the very least it still makes you a killer.” he affirmed.
“Damn it, you're the ones who put it there! You bastards are the ones toying with people's lives.”
“We go to our extreme measures to master the Field for the sake of the world, you do it because you can’t stand people having one over on you.”
“Damn it, you don’t know the first thing about me!”
“Maybe not, but that creature did, and it clearly saw something in you that it didn't see in me.”
“Ach! You bastard-!”
He waited for me to continue but I wasn't able to come up with anything else to say.
“I’m telling you this for your own good, you know.”
“Why?!”
“Someone has to humble you, otherwise you’ll just make the exact same mistake all over again.”
“Oh you’ll see, Just you wait.”
He smirked again.
Maybe, but I doubt it, now did you have anything else to say?”
“No.”
“Good, then be on your way.”
Bastard.