Magisterium

6

Her mother was a few feet away, the back of her white gown slicked with the border lights’ red glow.

“Mom?”

That’s when Glenn heard the voices. At first she thought it was the wind, but as she drew closer it sounded more like whispers. They grew louder until it was a steady stream without pause or inflection.

There was something else out there too, something huge and dark, looming in the trees in front of her mother.

“Mommy?” Glenn asked. “What are you doing?”

The whispering stopped.

Her mother slowly turned. Her pale skin glowed. Her eyes had turned a rimless black and were enormous, unnatural, and as thoughtless and feral as some monstrous bird. There wasn’t the slightest hint of recognition in them.

Glenn turned and ran for the border, but she stumbled when her foot caught on a root and she went tumbling into the leaves, falling on her back. Somehow her mother split the distance between them,

moving thirty feet in what seemed like seconds. She was reaching out to Glenn, her black eyes huge. Icy fingers fell on her shoulder as something inhuman roared in the night.

After that, everything went black.

Glenn sat up, her heart hammering against her chest. She twisted the blanket in her fist until her knuckles went white. It was a dream, she told herself. To believe anything else was the first step into madness.

But Glenn could still feel the cold of the forest floor beneath her feet and hear the voices as if they were at her shoulder.

But if it wasn’t a dream, what was it?

There was a crash outside, and a thin shadow rose up onto the roof and approached her window. Her heart seized. She pushed herself against the wall, drawing the covers over her. The shape took form, long thin arms and spindly legs. It reached her window and crouched down. Its head turned one way and then the other, and then it raised one fist and pounded at the glass. Hopkins leapt to the edge of the bed, hissing with his teeth bared. Too scared to run, Glenn peered out and tried to make sense of the shape, but all she could see was an outline of legs, arms, and … a Mohawk.

“What’s your problem, Kevin?!” Glenn shouted, tearing off the bed. “So help me, I will kill you!” She threw the window open, letting in a blast of frigid air. “What are you doing?”

“You have to pack your things,” he announced as he shoved past Glenn into her room. “You and your dad.”

“What are you talking about?”

Kevin took her by the arm. “You have to run,” he insisted. “Now!

They’re coming for you!”

“Run? What are you talking about? Who’s coming?”

“Good, you’re dressed. Get your shoes.” Kevin snatched Glenn’s jacket off the bed and pushed it at her. Hopkins howled and swiped at his arm. “Ow. Hopkins!”

“Kevin!”

“Let’s go! They’ll be here any second!”

“Who?”

Kevin grabbed Glenn’s shoes as he herded her out into the hall.

“Is your dad in his workshop?”

“I don’t know.”

Kevin drove her on ahead of him, down the stairs and outside.

There was a yowl from behind them as Hopkins followed.

“No, Hopkins, stay there.”

Glenn snatched her shoes from Kevin and stumbled into them as he dragged her down the hill, his hand clamped on her arm.

“Mr. Morgan!” he called.

Dad was at the door when they got there. He looked no better than he had the previous night, manic and disheveled. Glenn found she couldn’t meet his eyes.

“What’s going on? Glenn, are you okay? Kevin, what are you

doing here?”

“You have to run, Mr. Morgan,” Kevin said, catching his breath.

“Now! No time to talk.”

Glenn tore her wrist out of Kevin’s grasp. “We’re not going anywhere unless you tell us what’s going on.”

Kevin saw he was beat. “As soon as you left my dad’s office he started making calls. A bunch of them. The last one was to Carraway at Science. They talked about some project and then I heard them mention an Authority warrant. Mr. Morgan, they’re coming to arrest you.”

“Arrest him?” Glenn was stunned. She wanted to make Dr.

Kapoor see that her dad needed help, not that he was dangerous.

“Glenn, why were you with Dr. Kapoor?” her father asked.

“What were you talking to him about?”

“I–I can fix this,” Glenn stammered. “I can talk to him. It’s a mistake.”

“Glenn, what did you do?”

She met her father’s eyes for the first time that night. “I was worried. After our talk last night, I went to see Dr. Kapoor.”

“To talk to him about me?”

Glenn’s throat seemed to have closed up. She nodded.

“You didn’t tell him about The Project, did you?”

“Dad — ”

“Did you?”

“I mentioned it, but — ”

“YOU ARE UNDER ARREST.”

They all turned as a thin rectangle slid into view, hovering silently above the trees. It was maybe eight feet long and six wide, with skin the featureless gray of a shark’s. An Authority skiff. Its underside exploded with a light so intense it flooded the entire yard and hit all of their bodies like something physical.

Dad ducked into the workshop. There was a clatter of metal from inside.

The skiff’s loudspeakers boomed as it descended. “YOU ARE

UNDER ARREST.”

Glenn and Kevin followed Dad inside, hoping to escape the noise and light, but it was useless. The skiff’s beams tore through the gaps in the workshop’s walls. Inside, Dad was huddled in a corner in front of a wadded-up pile of papers. Glenn smelled smoke.

“Notes in the other basement computers,” he mumbled as he

worked. “No time. Have to hope the encryption is enough.”

“Dad! What are you doing?”

The fire caught quickly, an orange glow barely visible amidst the blare of white. Dad turned to the machine and set about ripping out wires. When he was done, he knelt by the generator and started pressing buttons until its blue glow intensified and it started to hum loudly.

“We’ll have to go across the border,” Dad said, pushing Kevin and Glenn out of the workshop. “It’s the only way. They won’t follow us there.”

“Dad, wait, maybe … maybe this will be okay. Maybe someone

can help — ”

“I don’t need their help!” Dad roared, his face red and lined. He took Glenn by her shoulders. “I understand what you think, but you’re about to find out the truth.”

The skiff’s lights blinked out. There was a smooth mechanical hiss and Glenn saw over her father’s shoulder that the Authority skiff had begun to off-load its drones.

“I wish I had more time to explain. Here.” He took Glenn’s hand and pushed something over her fingers and onto her wrist. It was the bracelet with the red jewel in the center. “Kevin, go home.”

“No! I want to help! I want — ”

“There’s nothing you can do! If you try, they’ll just take you too.

Glenn, let’s go.”

Glenn’s dad took her by the hand and pulled her along toward the forest. Behind them a swarm of gray, plus-shaped drones slid off the back of the skiff. Half of the drones made for the workshop, soaking it with fire retardant. The rest chased after Glenn and her dad as they fled through the snow.

The forest wall loomed ahead. He’s taking us across the border, Glenn thought, breathless. The hum of the drones grew louder behind them. Dad put on a burst of speed. When they were just steps away, Glenn dug her feet into the frozen ground and jerked her arm back like a fisherman yanking in a line. Dad had no choice but to stop.

“Glenn, what are you doing?”

“You need help! We both do!”

“No. Glenn. Listen to me. The bracelet, we can’t let them have it.

We — ”

There was a snap behind Glenn and her father’s face went white as he grasped at the drone’s stinger that was buried in his chest. His eyes caught Glenn’s once more, pleading, and then he collapsed into the snow.

Glenn backed away, putting his body between her and the

approaching drones. It was quiet except for the faint crackle of the flames that licked at the workshop. There was a flat metallic taste in Glenn’s mouth. Her head was swimming.

“Glenn?”

Kevin was standing at the foot of a hill to her left, but she was watching the drones hover in a soundless cluster in front of her. One of them peeled off from the group and descended. The sound it made was like a slow exhale. When it reached her father, a thin line of filament extruded from one of its spars and wrapped itself around his arms and legs, binding them tight. Glenn thought of a spider skittering over a kill and wrapping it in silk.

“Hsssss!”

The sound made Glenn jump, but it was just Hopkins, who had come from nowhere to stand between her and the drones and bare his teeth. Glenn took him up into her arms.