Page 72 of Bizarre Bonds
Viscera’s been smashing through walls too. I don’t think they can feel secure even inside.
A familiar urge ripples through my essence. I might not be able to help catch the rampaging rogue shadowkind, but I can distract the humans from their worries. Provoke some laughter where before there were only clenched jaws. Remind them they can find little amusements even when a situation seems dire.
That’s what every bit of my being craves. Why shouldn’t I carry out the work every particle of me craves?
I slink along the edges of the buildings with my ears pricked. Muffled sobs carry through the pane of a basement window.
Peeking inside, I spot a child—a girl—curled up on her bed with her blanket tucked tight around her skinny frame. She’s sniffling and staring at the window, but she can’t see me in the shadows.
She’s afraid of what might be prowling out here. The monsters human kids imagine in the dark have become much too real, even if the grown-ups in her life will be calling them terrorists and gangsters.
I’ll show her the beings that lurk in the shadows aren’t all cruel.
I wriggle past the pane and drop down into the patches of shadow on the floor.
What can I play with? My searching glance lands on a paper airplane, its nose a bit bent, sitting on a table in the middle of the room.
At a nudge of my powers, it lifts into the air as if with a sudden gust. The girl sucks in a startled breath.
I make the airplane dip and spin, whirl and bob, jitterbugging through the air. By the time it drifts all the way to the ground, the girl is muffling giggles rather than tears.
Pleased warmth flows through my being. Leaving her, I creep deeper into the apartment.
A woman in the kitchen has just poured herself a cup of tea. Steam wafts from the mug as well as from the spout of the kettle.
I impose a little of my will on the particles gusting into the air, shaping them into a vague figure that gives a jaunty bow. But the woman has already turned away from the counter, cupping the mug between her hands.
I switch my focus to the steam drifting from the steeping tea in the cup. The impression of a playful puppy emerges, bounding through the air and swinging its floppy ears?—
The woman looks down and yelps. Her hands flinch around the cup. It slips from her fingers.
Scalding water sloshes across her legs and feet before the mug fractures on the tiled floor.
With a hiss of pain, she dashes to the bathroom. I gaze after her, my heart sinking.
I only wanted to cheer her up, but I ended up frightening her so much she hurt herself. How could what was so delightful to me be so terrifying to her?
No matter how much I play, I never know what effect I’ll have.
A sense of helplessness as tight as if I was still trapped in one of the experimenters’ cells closes in around me. I dive deep into the darkest shadow I can find, but the anguish follows me.
I only wanted to brighten these people’s lives, take them away from their worries. Instead, I gave them more.
That’s why I ended up at the academy in the first place, isn’t it? Because I didn’t know where to draw the line.
IthoughtI was being careful. I thought I could keep it low key enough.
Maybe I haven’t gotten better after all. Should Rollick have trusted me to be on this mission?
Shame and fear mingle with my guilt. I ball myself even smaller within the swath of darkness, as if I can shrink enough that the awful feelings will no longer fit inside me.
Then, through the despair I can’t contain, a thin glow seeps in. A faint sense of affection washes over me, smoothing the worst edges off my nerves.
I tense in confusion and then realize the feeling is reaching me through the spot on my chest that connects me to Peri.
She must have noticed my turmoil. She’s reaching out to me—sending out the softest emotions she can to surround me in a gentle embrace.
Another current of loving reassurance drapes around me like a cozy blanket. I can almost feel Peri’s arms encircling me the way I haven’t let her touch me in weeks.
