In this Night We Own (The Commander Book 6) Read online

  The last she emphasized with her charisma, and Sellers sighed. From his limited experience with Focuses, they couldn’t resist using their charisma in an unfair manner. He guessed, for them, they didn’t think of such uses as unfair. They probably looked at their charisma use the way the rest of them thought of exclamation points and question marks.

  Focus Annie took a moment to huddle up with Suzie and Pam, peppering them with questions and examining them. She radiated pleasure as she spoke with their two most advanced Commoners, especially after Suzie told her about their training sessions in the Inferno household.

  “Now, let’s take a look at your problem child,” Focus Annie said, after she finished conversing with Pam and Suzie. She slid over to the right, and after a moment of near panic, Occum hesitantly stepped forward, Page Dowling at his side. “You said this one is stuck in his beast form?”

  “That is correct, ma’am,” Occum said. His normal cranky ebullience remained subdued, and his nervousness remained high.

  “Well, I can tell Dowling is what I term a self-stabilizing Chimera,” Focus Annie said, meeting Dowling’s gaze. “Can you speak?”

  “Yes,” Page Dowling said. “And think, and act in a human fashion instead of as the instinctive Beast. I just can’t change my shape back to human.” Dowling paused. “Is that what’s meant by self-stabilizing?”

  Focus Annie knelt down to Dowling’s eye level, showing no fear, despite the obvious. She was no Arm, and no athlete-Focus as Queen Rizzari, but still she showed no fear. If Page Dowling lost control of his beast, which had happened several times, which happened to all of the Nobles on occasion while in their beastly combat forms, he could rip her to shreds before any of them could grab Dowling and stop him.

  “No, a self-stabilizing Chimera is one who retains his human mind when he changes his shape. Self-stabilizers also find it easy to retain their shapes during élan draws.”

  “Ma’am, I was the same, before Master Occum found me,” Sellers said. “But I didn’t have the problem Page Dowling has.”

  “That’s because being self-stabilizing isn’t a problem,” Focus Annie said. “I sense something more here in Page Dowling. Something I’ve encountered among some of the Focuses, but never among the other Major Transforms I’ve met.” She turned to Occum. “Tell me, did Page Dowling exhibit any other strange behaviors when you picked him up?”

  “Yes,” Occum said. “Dowling here had a harem – that is, a self-gathered household of women Transforms he used as an élan source – and he knew the basics of repeatable élan gathering.”

  “Good evidence,” she said. The confidence she radiated was infectious. “Some Focuses are like this as well, able to pick up on techniques other Focuses have learned, without being taught. I term them instinctive Focuses. Among the Focuses, they tend to cluster in the second quartile, not especially smart or especially talented otherwise.”

  “Hey,” Page Dowling said, his voice growing higher and reedier. “I wouldn’t characterize myself as without talents or brainpower. For raw smarts, I’m probably at the top of our little heap, here.”

  The three mature Nobles nodded as one. If anything, Page Dowling was too smart, in Viscount Sellers’ opinion. Too many brains and you might end up not being able to fight as a Beast should.

  “No offense, Page Dowling, and I’m not surprised that an instinctive Chimera would be different than an instinctive Focus.” She closed her eyes and put her right hand on Page Dowling’s furry blond head, without fear or even the need to ask permission. Dowling let out a low whine, but otherwise didn’t react. “His deep juice structure is different than you other Nobles. Occum, is there something you’re doing differently with him than the others?”

  “No, not at all,” Master Occum said. “He’s getting the same stuff the others got at his rank and state of development.”

  “Rank? Your rank system is real at the juice level?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “What rank is above Page, how is this earned, and what changes do you make in how you support these Nobles?”

  “The rank of Knight, with the honorific of ‘Sir’,” Occum said. “The Page needs to be able to maintain a facsimile of a human form to become a Knight; in return, he is formally brought into the household.”

  Focus Annie squinched her face and turned to the left in thought. “Okay, I see it. The deep juice structure change I’m noticing is the difference. It’s a recognition link, the same as Crow Sky and Focus Rizzari use to share their metasenses. Only, because you experience this at the group level, at what might best be termed the household level, your Pages need permission to make the recognition change. He’s outside your household, and thus outside of your ability to control the depths of his mind.”

  “Ma’am, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Master Occum said. Neither did Sellers. He took a moment to look around the park, in the brightening daylight. Only a few of the trees showed even the early signs of fall, and although the air was crisp, it wasn’t wintery. Great maples and pines and oaks lined the open areas of the park, shading the many picnic tables. The beauty of the place made him vow, yet again, to arrange somehow to spend more time out of doors, away from pavement and buildings.

  “Oh,” Dowling said. “What Focus Annie is saying, Master, is that to get around my overly strong self-stabilization instincts, I need to be made a part of your household first.”

  Focus Annie nodded.

  “But that would mess up our household rank structure, ma’am,” Duke Hoskins said, worried. “If we mess up the household’s glow, we might all go Beast.”

  “A Page must earn his knighthood, then?” Focus Annie said.

  They all nodded.

  “Well, is there anything Page Dowling can do that would normally take a Knight to do, other than his self-stabilization?”

  Dowling snorted, a half growl of pride. Sellers had always wondered if Dowling’s problems were an issue of pride, because Dowling thought he was better than the rest of them when, instead, they thought him flawed. If he lost his bushy oversized blond squirrel tail, it might help all their attitudes on the subject. “I am better at élan draws than any of my titled Noble peers. Only Duke Hoskins is better at preserving the life and sanity of our Commoners, but even he can’t gain as much élan from them as I do.”

  “This is something you learned from Occum?” Focus Annie said.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Dowling said. Though Sellers thought Dowling cheated, having come to them already knowing the basics.

  Focus Annie turned to Occum. “Then what is needed is an alternate way to become a Knight and part of this household you are building. I believe being able to do élan draws with the skill of a higher rank Noble should count as much as being able to shift into a man-shape. Could you make such a change in a way that wouldn’t destabilize your household links?”

  “Perhaps,” Occum said. “I think I see the symbology needed. You think this would unblock Page Dowling’s shape changing abilities?”

  “I’m positive it will, though in practice you may well find that he will now pick up these shape changing skills on his own, without needing to be taught, once he is linked to your household. His instincts are strong, both a benefit and a detriment.”

  “This sounds frustrating, but I can cope,” Master Occum said.

  “In that case, I think we are finished here,” Focus Annie said. She turned back to the three of them, the real Nobles. Count Knox, who had been finding the nut-hunting adventurers of a nearby chipmunk more interesting than the conversation about Page Dowling, drew his attention back with a visible start. “Be careful, be paranoid. As I’ve learned through hard experience, there is far more out in the wider world of a Transform nature that is strange, unexpected and impossible.”

  “Crow Sky says the same,” Duke Hoskins said, noncommittal. Sellers could practically read the Duke’s mind, patiently waiting until the Focus was off, to do something appropriate to Dowling to remind the squirrel of
his real place among them. He caught the Duke’s eye, and then moved his eyes over to an appropriate object of punishment.

  “Heed his words,” the Focus said. “None of us knows what’s really going on with us Transforms.”

  Focus Annie led Occum off, alone, and talked to him for ten minutes, outside of prying bodyguard ears. While they talked, small family groups started dribbling into the park. None of them noticed the Noble household yet, but it was only a matter of time. Although the Nobles’ very presence made them difficult to notice, unless they wanted notice, the same was not true for their Commoners. Unless they sought cover, soon, the normals would soon be screaming about Monsters in French.

  Occum came back to the group shaken, and inwardly agitated. “We don’t have as much time as I thought we had,” Occum said, whispering. “If the Focus is right, the fight with Wandering Shade and his Hunters will happen within six to nine months.” He paused, and then glared at Sellers, who was standing shoulder to shoulder with the Duke. “Shit. Get Dowling out from the damned oversized trashcan you stuck him in. We have work to do, dammit.”

  After Focus Annie and her entourage left, they decamped into a small pine forest. Out of the sight of prying eyes, Occum started the drumming ceremony that would recognize Page Dowling as a Knight. They had to hide, because such a ceremony would attract notice.

  “My dear Duke,” Sellers said, quiet under the steady thunder of the drums. “I fear I missed far too much of the meaning of that conversation with the scary Focus. Especially at the end. Is there anything you might be able to tell me about what really happened, here?”

  Both Duke Hoskins and Count Knox gave Sellers a funny look. “Scary Focus?” Hoskins said. “She was sort of nice, in a weak Focus fashion. I think she’s even more of an academic than our Queen Rizzari.”

  Sellers winced, and waved away a bee buzzing around his face. “She had the both of you buffaloed with her juice tricks and her charisma. She wore, what, about fifty juice patterns, and used her charisma constantly. She could have flattened us in an instant, if she wanted.”

  “No way,” Count Knox said. “She was harmless.”

  Duke Hoskins’ eyebrows narrowed, and then he nodded at Sellers. Unlike Knox, he realized Focus Annie had fooled him, at least once Sellers pointed it out. “At the end, my dear Viscount, what you saw was a deal. The Focus handed off the responsibility for rescuing Focus Racshke to us – as a formal responsibility – and in return, diagnosed Occum’s problems with Page Dowling.” The Duke paused and listened to Occum beating on his well-worn drum, pounding the household into Page – now Sir – Dowling’s mind. They had all gone through the procedure, Sellers several times, as he had been Master Occum’s experimental subject. The drumming summoned nostalgia, longing and belonging.

  “If it’s our formal responsibility, and Master Occum’s already been paid, then we’re going to be doing this alone, without his help,” Sellers said.

  The Duke nodded. “Yes, this one’s on us.”

  The three Nobles nervously shuffled their feet, and eyed the beaten-down late-season rye grass. None of them said any more on the subject.

  Tonya Biggioni: September 14, 1968 – September 22, 1968

  “Crow Shadow,” Tonya said. “It’s so good to hear from you again.” They had only talked twice, the first time being Shadow’s correct warning to her during the Arm Flap, the second time an apology by her, admitting his warning had been correct. Her second conversation had earned her the addresses needed to correspond in the Crow letter circuit.

  “And you,” Shadow said. “Alas, you may not consider my phone call so kindly when we’re done discussing the business at hand. I’ve run into a problem requiring my cognizance of your affairs, for which I must apologize.”

  As all Crows, Shadow talked in circles. Whatever this piece of Crow insanity was, Tonya knew she wouldn’t end up happy.

  “Business, then,” Tonya said. “What sort of problem do we have?”

  “A bit of explanation first,” Shadow said. “I do not know if you’re aware, but the Crow community, loose as it is, greatly frowns upon the interference of Crows in the affairs of other Major Transforms. This old policy was enacted to prevent conflicts arising between the Focuses and Crows, though, and recently the policy has become weakened by many positive interventions into the affairs of the Arms and Beast Men, both to help them survive and to nudge them toward less predatory behaviors. The younger Crows are part of this change and don’t understand the reasons behind the non-interference policies with the Focuses.”

  “Uh huh,” Tonya said. Was there a point in this? Somewhere? “I’m familiar with those reasons.” The first Focuses and the oldest Crows accused each other of betrayal; lives had been lost on both sides.

  “I recently had to intervene in the activities of a younger Crow whose actions didn’t conform to this non-interference policy,” Shadow said. “The target of the interference was you; the form of interference was a rather thorough examination of your business activities, legal and illegal.”

  “I thank you, then, Shadow,” Tonya said. “I, for one, would not like to resurrect the ridiculous anti-Crow tactics of the bad old days.” The last thing she wanted was to get drafted into Crow hunting duty. Given Polly’s annoyance at her, the assignment might even be inevitable.

  “There’s a problem, though,” Shadow said.

  “Yes?”

  “That being the reason for why the information was being collected.”

  Tonya winced at the conversational teeth-pulling exercise. “The reason being what, exactly?”

  “You must pardon my indirection; I feel the force of the weight of your associations even over the telephone.” Shadow paused. Tonya decided to wait out the Crow, and did not respond. “The reason the information was being collected was your negative interference in the affairs of the Arms. Although there are ample precedents for avoiding direct Crow interference in Focus affairs, there are none covering the activities of a Crow interfering in Focus affairs not for his own gain, or to help the Focus, or a different Focus, but at the behest of a third party who is a different Major Transform.”

  Hancock. Dammit, Hancock had one of her many Crow friends spying on her! Tonya crumpled up a piece of paper she was doodling on and tossed it, in anger, across her office. “Are you saying that since there are no precedents, you have the right to allow this to occur?”

  “I am warning you I may be forced to allow this to occur, Focus Biggioni, despite my better desires,” Shadow said. “I don’t know yet what may force my hand, but the two of us both know there are unseen forces guiding us in our meditations and dreams, and that the world of Major Transforms is not as mundane and logical as many may wish to believe. I am willing to give you time to properly settle your conflict between yourself and Arm Hancock, Focus Biggioni, but we may not have this time. Further escalation of this conflict could easily force my hand.”

  “I understand,” Tonya said, icy. She was being blackmailed by a Crow! If anyone had any rightful complaints about the escalation of the conflict, it was her; involving the older Crows in this mess was the penultimate escalation possible, and a threat to use the ultimate escalation: involvement of the FBI and other law enforcement authorities. “Let me lay it out to you in stark terms, then, and see if you have any more intelligent suggestions.” Her voice dripped with condescension and ire. “I am under orders from my superiors to establish direct lines of communication between the Focus Council and Arm Hancock. She has refused, citing orders from her supposed superior, Arm Keaton. The Focus Council isn’t ready to recognize the Arm organization, because in our view the Arms have none; nor can the Council recognize the fact that direct lines of communication exist between Arm Hancock and Focus Rizzari because Focus Rizzari is in open rebellion against the Focus Council. We stand at an impasse, and yes, there is an easy resolution: Arm Hancock linking herself to a Network associated non-rebel Focus. Which she refuses to do.”

  Shadow sighed. “I truly
hesitate to say this, but from my perspective you are acting in a foolish manner. I know far too much about Focus politics for my taste, something assigned to me by my superiors, if you wish to use a terminology not correct for Crows.” Tonya’s eyebrows shot up. Shadow, a Crow Guru, was not supposed to have superiors, at least as far as the secret Council knowledge on the subject was concerned. “I cite the case of Focus Laswell of Houston, who after attempting to mediate this issue in late August was promptly labeled a ‘rebel Focus’, thus by fiat making her ineligible to be Arm Hancock’s Network contact. Because of this and many other less than logical actions on the part of the Focus Council, and yourself, I am led to believe your stated goal is not your real goal. I have reluctantly come to believe your real goal is to forbid the use of the Arm tag.”

  Tonya didn’t respond. Shadow’s analysis made sense, though if ‘forbidding the use of the Arm tag’ was the real goal, nobody had told her. What she thought of as the real goal: ‘no Arm organization, ever’, was just as bad. Perhaps, in truth, it was the same goal, if the use of Arm tags always resulted in an Arm organization. “You’re saying this supposed goal, which is not part of my orders nor has been a part of any of the conversations I’ve had with my peers or superiors, is a large enough interference in Arm affairs to force you to side with the Arms and release the collected information?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then neither of us need to worry. The reason Focus Laswell isn’t trusted is because she participated in a takedown of a true rebel Focus without prior Council approval; she thought prior approval of her Region President would suffice. This may strike you as silly and niggling, but this is just part of the normal functioning of high-end Focus politics. We don’t consider her part of the Rizzari rebellion. If Arm Hancock could be talked into a different Network contact, this conflict would go away.”