“You…!” Rain Dancer looked furious. Shield Maiden sighed and set a hand on his shoulder.
“Relax, Rain,” she said. “Don’t take it so seriously. He’s clearly a playful sort.”
“This is not some kind of game, you know?” said Rain Dancer. “It’s meant to be taken seriously.”
“You could turn it into a game, if you wanted,” said Malcolm. “A couple of soccer goals, Shield Maiden’s bubble things. You could call it Power Ball.”
Rose jumped down from the table and stood close to him, an amused smile on her face.
CHAPTER 17
Things relaxed after the dramatic display, and Malcolm returned to eating his food. Rain Dancer excused himself from the chamber after a short, whispered conversation with Shield Maiden. The Awakened Children, for the most part, began to return to their food and conversation.
Malcolm noticed Rose watching their table. He managed to pick out Rose’s sister on a closer inspection. She looked similar to Rose, or what Rose might have looked like before becoming a spryte. Pale skin, dark hair, and deeply expressive eyes.
“You should go talk to her,” said Malcolm. “Give it another shot.”
Rose sighed.
“I’m not sure there is any point,” she said. “And what if…?”
She trailed off a little bit.
“What if, what?” he asked.
“What if I’m better off not remembering who I am?” Rose asked, quietly. “Remember what Rain Dancer said? About getting his powers in prison, and turning into a demon behind bars? What if it’s something like that for me, or something even worse…?”
“When I first met you, you said that you thought you were a champion before becoming a spryte,” said Malcolm. “I doubt you have too many skeletons in the closet to worry about.”
Rose shrugged, but didn’t make any move to leave the table.
I would have done anything for a chance like this with Danny.
He frowned, though it wasn’t as though he could force her into it. Rose’s sister wasn’t making any more effort than she was. It hurt Malcolm to watch, but that was all he could do.
They spent another half hour at the table. It would have been boring, if not for the lingering effects of the weed and wine. Malcolm chatted with Rose about nothing in particular, feeling a bit as though their captors had forgotten about them. Shield Maiden finally came over after a while and set a hand on his shoulder.
“I want the two of you to see something,” she said.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It will give a little more insight into what we have down here.” Shield Maiden gave the two of them a stiff smile.
Malcolm glanced over at Rose, who looked intrigued as well. They followed Shield Maiden out of the main chamber and through an industrial looking door. The floor sloped downward, and they continued through another door into a room filled with machinery.
Rain Dancer was inside, facing away from them. He gripped an electrical conductor in each hand, and static coursed over his body. His dreadlocks would shoot up and out every couple of seconds, reminding Malcolm of the legs of a squid, or octopus.
“This is where Underworld gets its power from,” said Shield Maiden. “Rain Dancer likes to act as though it’s an easy thing for him, but he spends several hours down here each night using his powers at full capacity.”
“He looks exhausted,” said Rose, frowning. Rain Dancer had his shirt off, and sweat slicked over the muscles of his shoulders.
“You both have powers of your own,” said Shield Maiden. “What do you think would happen if you were required to use them for hours at a time, day after day?”
Malcolm shook his head slowly.
“Does he ever have episodes?” he asked. “You know, losing control… getting violent… that sort of thing.”
If he did, all of the Awakened Children would be in serious danger.
Shield Maiden smiled sadly and gave a slow nod.
“He does,” she said. “Though, with me around, they’re containable. I usually encase him in a shield that he can’t break through, though conjuring one so strong does take a toll on me, as well. After a day or so, he comes back to reality.”
“You could do that for other monsters, too,” said Rose. “Couldn’t you?”
Shield Maiden nodded again.
“Now you’re beginning to understand,” she said. “There are ways around the downsides of embracing one’s powers fully. When Rain Dancer preaches, when he calls us the ‘star touched’, he’s speaking from what he believes the world could be.”
“That makes sense,” said Malcolm. “Apart from the stuff about the Illuminati… and the Zodiac. To be honest, I’m still a little hung up one couple of points.”
Rose flicked him in the shoulder with her finger.
“I should find a room for the two of you to rest in,” said Shield Maiden. “We can continue our conversation in the morning.”
Malcolm and Rose followed her back into the main chamber, and then into a room off the hallway that led to the dormitories. It was a guest room, with a carpet, a queen-sized bed, and a private bathroom.
A massive improvement over that concrete cell, for sure.
“If you need anything, my room is two down on the left,” said Shield Maiden. “Please don’t hesitate to ask. The two of you are our guests.”
Malcolm nodded, though a cynical voice in his head wondered how much that really was the case. He waited until Shield Maiden was out of the room and then walked over to the bed and sat down on it.
“Do you think they have any listening devices set up in here?” he asked Rose.
She shrugged.
“If they do, there isn’t much we can do about them,” she said. “Let’s just talk quietly.”
She came over to the bed and sat down next to him. Malcolm held her hand for a minute, feeling a little overwhelmed by the situation.
“We have to find a way out of here,” he said, softly. “They’re treating us kindly, but I sincerely doubt we’ll get a chance to escape unless we make one for ourselves.”
“I agree,” said Rose. “But you were right about what you said before. The best way forward is for us to play along, and wait until they trust us enough to give us an opportunity.”
Malcolm sighed and lay back on the bed. Rose rested her chin on his chest, frowning as she watched his expression.
“You look worried,” she said.
He leaned his head to one side.
“I’m not sure that’s the right word for it,” he said. “More like… confused.”
“Why?”
“This place… it reminds me of the Champion Authority’s local headquarters,” said Malcolm. “And Rain Dancer’s sermon, the way he’s pushing his view point, it’s a little crazier, but also kind of like the flipside of what Multi and Tapestry and the others believe.”
Rose frowned.
“Why is it that a crazy sermon from a cult leader leads you to a moral crisis, but not sex with me?”
Malcolm chuckled.
“Sex with you is fun enough to be simple,” he said. “Obviously.”
“Maybe I should work on making it more complicated, then,” said Rose. She kissed him softly on the lips. Malcolm smiled as he felt her hands begin to roam across his chest and stomach.
He was surprised by how tired he was, and content to let Rose do most of the work. She stripped off his clothes with slow movements, kissing bare flesh as it became available.
Malcolm ran his hands over her breasts as she pulled her sweatshirt over her head, revealing the lack of a bra underneath. Rose was already naked from the waist down, and she pulled her panties to the side, rather than taking them off, to slide down onto his shaft.
She rode him slowly, lovingly, even. It was different from how they so often ended up having sex, Malcolm manhandling her and Rose teasing him with her shadows. There was a connection there, in the place of lust. Malcolm felt like he had a partner in crime, not just between the sheets.