7:7
Kim
A carbon nanotube beach-tumbleweed, a kinetic sculpture that never stops shifting and changing its configuration, it is easy to get lost in the chaos of her mind.
Eyes closed, breathing deep and slow, Kim traced the patterns in the darkness behind her lids. Bright flashes of neon dragged her mind from the swirls of oranges and pinks, making her start the tracing again. Swirl. Swirl.
A carbon nanotube beach-tumbleweed, a kinetic sculpture that never stops shifting and changing its configuration…
PULSE
Her limbs went rigid. Her jaw locked. A scream fought the cage of her teeth. She grunted through it, her diaphragm clenched, her breath sawing out. Instinctively she reached for fire. Burned through the filaments inserted in her pores. More lashed out at her. She countered with a burst of air that sends the strands dancing, curling back with just the ends straining forward to jab into her cobra-style.
The energy the pulse had kindled in her core ebbed. She rested her head back against the table, panting. Tears pricked at her eyes. “No!” An internal burst of defiance, more grit than scream, “They do not win!” She clenched her eyes shut hard, hard, so hard that light like after images supplanted the darkness, pops of white, violet, a wash of neon blue from the depths flowing up to obscure the images until her vision was a field of burning blue.
The threads, no longer held back by the air, jabbed into her skin. She barely flinched. The first few times the invasive things assaulted her she’d flinched but now, whether it’s a lack of energy or because it’s become old-hat, she barely shifted as the threads latched on with their subtle barbs and their gentle suction.
“I’m so hungry,” she whispered against the wood, tears forcing past her defiance to eke slowly from the corner of her eye.
“Good.”
Another pulse. And the cycle began again.
The line from Cornflake Girl about something not really happening played over and over, correcting her, telling her it was.
*
Patti started out humming and then began to sing, leaning her head back against the wing and opening herself to the song. Weariness permeated her tone.
Her eyes drifted open and she focused on the open doorway halfway across the room. Sighed. “She’s still here.”
Prairie reached between their chairs to pat Patti delicately on the arm. “That’s good. We’re on the right track.”
Patti turned her hand up and Prairie slipped hers into it, smiling when Patti squeezed her fingers a little. Patti rolled her head to look at Prairie. “This is shit.”
Prairie’s head bobbed. “Yes. It is.”
They sat that way until Ivan walked over to the open doorway. He stood there, the light behind him a nimbus framing him like a saint in a Renaissance painting, and for a moment Prairie forgot to breath. She shook off her distraction, gave Patti’s hand a squeeze, then rose and dusted her hands down her legs. “Shall we?”
Patti rose to stand beside her. “We shall.”
“Shields at the front.” At Ivan’s call Dempsey strapped on his shield, Patti knotted her fist in the strap of hers, and they stepped up to the stairs. Ivan took a step to the side to accommodate them.
“Behind that range.” Dan and Siobhan stepped in behind Dempsey and Patti.
“Skirmishers to either side.” Ben and Gwen took up places, Ben to the left and Gwen to the right. Gwen nodded when Ivan said, “You’ll fold back when we hit the stairs but be prepared to fan when we hit the next floor.”
Abe raised a hand. “Where do you want me?”
Ivan eyed Abe. “Why don’t you hang back with me and Prairie. She can cover you with her daggers.”
Prairie pulled a dagger out, saluting Ivan then turning and doing the same to Abe. Her light blue eyes twinkled with the soft smile she gave Abe. “I’m very stabby.”
“Oh,” Abe nodded, a slightly uncertain grin twisting their mouth as they nodded in short, sharp jerks. They knotted their right hand in the strap of their bag, the action stretching the tattoos like lace over their knuckles. “Okay.”
“Think we’re crazy yet?” Ivan quietly asked Abe.
Abe, wide-eyed, just looked around at the walls, the ceiling, the floor, stepping forward to start down the stairs as the parade moved forward.
“Yeah,” Ivan grinned. “You think we’re crazy. Sorry you said you’d come along?”
“No.” Abe jerked their head side to side hard enough to bob the mop of their hair. “Very no.” A huge smile spread their lips, causing the apples of their cheek to rise and their eyes to sparkle. “This is-” they shook their head, wet their lips, grinned again, breathed a laugh, “so awesome.”
“Damn, kid.” Ivan grinned, the neat goatee around his mouth emphasizing the white of his teeth. “I like you.”
When Ivan clapped Abe on the back, Abe curled their shoulders forward, looked to the side, then slanted Ivan a impish smile before looking down at the stairs in front of them with more attention than those stairs really deserved or needed.
The group made their way quietly down the stairs, Dempsey in the lead tensed for trouble, Ivan in the back equally so. It wouldn’t be the first time that stuff came out of the walls or from behind them. It made sense to be ready.
Dempsey and Patti creeped carefully over the threshold of the next level. Though Siobhan’s alchemical lights still burned, they weren’t needed as there appeared to be a power source providing standard room lighting. The subtle hum of power, like a layer beneath that of the air, suggested electricity though if that was the case it had to be a considerable source or the sheer number of Magickers in their group would have likely tapped that out. This lighting made it abundantly clear that the level was completely clear of everything except for bedroom furnishings similar to those in the level they’d entered through, though the upholstery was in shades of jade this time. Ben skirted in behind Dempsey to do a thorough search beneath the bed, behind the draperies, and even under the chairs which were far too low to hide much more than a kitten. Although… kitten. Everyone there appreciated he might be a bit primed for a kitten attack at any minute. Any. Minute.
At his “Clear!” everyone else piled into the room and quickly moved towards the next set of stairs, still maintaining their formation if loosely.
Ivan looked down at Abe as they waited their turn to descend. “Kid? You ever done anything like this before?”
“Like this?” Abe ducked their head. “No.”
Ivan lofted his chin. “Stick with me. We’ll make this fun.”
“Fun.” Abe drawled, pulling out the word until it was almost a question.
“Absolutely!” Prairie said from their other side. “We excel at fun.”
Gwen turned to wiggle her brows at them. “And bad choices.”
“Definitely bad choices,” Siobhan echoed.
“Yep,” came from Dan as he disappeared down the stairs. Siobhan had to hurry to catch up.
Again the journey down the stairs was uneventful. Again they piled out into a room that was empty except for tasteful furniture. This room seemed to be a study, giving Ben a desk to peer under and several file cabinets to peer around before calling the all clear. A peek inside the cabinets proved them to be empty of anything except a subtle sheen of dust and promise.
“The lights are on, but no one is home,” Patti quipped as she tromped across the room for the next set of stairs.
“Yeah,” Siobhan looked around. “It’s like-”
“The moment before a play starts and everyone is in their places but they’re perfectly still, rehearsing their lines in their head, ready to smile and move when the curtain goes up?” Patti suggested.
Siobhan nodded. “That.”
Patti jerked her head towards the staircase. “Next?”
“Next.”
Another trip down another stair full of nothing but stair. Stone walls, stone stairs, stone ceiling, and air all around, but otherwise nothing of note. At the bottom Dempsey drew to a halt. Set by now in the pattern of ‘there’s a room, there’s nothing in it’ Siobhan wasn’t quite ready for his hasty stop and had to brace her hand against his back so she didn’t collide headfirst with him.
Ben, from behind Siobhan, called, “What do you see?”
“A bathroom. Lot of water on the floor. Footing could be a problem,” Dempsey responded.
“Anything else?”
“The usual?”
“Let me through.” Ben pushed past Siobhan and ducked around Dempsey who had lowered his shield after ascertaining there was no clear danger in the room.
He stashed his daggers and rubbed his hands together, assessing the room with his gaze. “Looks like a bathroom. With water. Going in.”
So saying he grabbed the doorframe and gingerly put one foot into the water. When his foot didn’t slide, he tightened his grip on the frame to steady himself and took another step. “Seems like there might be a little current running through the water,” he called back.
“Current? Like a tide?” Ivan asked.
“Current like electricity,” Ben looked back and flashed a charming grin. “Might hurt someone who’s not a Magicker. Just feels like a top up to me.”
Ivan eyed the water, mouth to the side as he looked it over with an analytical eye. “Could be there’s an outlet under the water. Be careful.”
“Careful is my middle na-” Ben’s words cut off as he released the doorframe to take the next step into the room. He stiffened, the fingers of the hand trailing behind where he’d released the frame curled into a claw, and then he started juddering. One second to the next he was thrown backwards to barrel into Dempsey and Ivan where they hovered in the doorway. He flew threw the air like a rag doll, torso leading with limp arms and legs flying behind and his head jerked back so his face was pointing towards the ceiling. Such was the force of the throw Dempsey and Ivan staggered as he hit, barely retaining their feet.
Ben continued to judder, sliding to the floor to convulse at Dempsey and Ivan’s feet, his mouth open and the back of his head banging against the stone floor. Prairie burst from around Ivan, shoving against him to make room, and in his shock, he just went with the movement.
Prairie dropped to her knees and shoved a hand under Ben’s head to stop it from bashing into the floor. When she snapped, “I need someone to do this so I can check him!” Ivan dropped and pushed his hand under Prairie’s beneath Ben’s head. Prairie slid her hand free and shoved Ben’s jacket aside. She then attacked the buttons of his shirt, quickly peeling it aside to reveal his well-formed pecs and abs.
Siobhan dropped on his other side. “Is there anything I can do?”
Without looking up, Prairie shook her head. “After I determine what’s needed.” In a calm methodical voice she began listing her observations as she ran her hands along his ribs. “Slight burns on the skin, indicating electrical damage. Usually you only see slight burns or none at all. This level indicates internal organ damage. The burns are caused by the heat generated by the body’s resistance to the current passing through it.”
“What’s that mean?” Ivan’s voice had a very slight tremble in it.
“Internal burns can lead to scarring, amputation, and loss of function. If a lot of tissue is destroyed the amount of waste generated can cause blood circulation or kidney issues.” She pressed her ear to Ben’s chest. The air in the stairwell seemed to go still as everyone held their breath, waiting for what she’d say next. Ivan was getting lightheaded by the time she pulled back and met his eyes for a moment, giving a sharp nod, before going back to her examination. “His heart beat is fast. In the case of electrocution you need to worry about cardiac effects, arrhytmias, bradycardia, and heart muscle injury.”
“What’s all that mean?” Ivan asked, watching the quick, efficient manner in which Prairie ministered to Ben.
“The current will travel through blood vessels and nerves towards the heart. High voltage, which this seems to be, can cause cardiac asystole.”
“Which means?” Ivan’s voice rose a hair. He gulped and curled his hand harder around Ben’s head, keeping it still.
“Asystole is when your heart stops beating.” She raised her eyes for a moment to meet Ivan’s. “What people call flatline. We’ve eliminated that.” She lifted her hand from Ben’s chest to make a warding gesture towards Ivan. “He has a heartbeat. Arrhythmia is a fluttering in the chest. He has that. Tachycardia is a racing heartbeat, bradycardia is a slow one. He’s tachy.” A pat of the air in Ivan’s direction. “That’s not good but its not bradycardia which is a concern when someone has taken a jolt.”
She sat back on her heels and looked at Siobhan. “I need you to give him a healing potion. I’ll assess the effect. You’ll probably need to have at least one more ready. Maybe two.”
Siobhan nodded her understanding. While her eyes were wide and expression stark she retained a level of control that was desperately needed. “Okay.”
Prairie turned to Ivan. “Please prop up his head so Siobhan can dose him.”
Ivan moved to do so, tilting Ben’s head up as Siobhan poured a potion into his mouth then massaged his throat to make sure it went down. “What about that heart muscle thing you said?”
“Sometimes an injury only manifests as an electrocardiographic change like increased myocardial proteins in the blood-troponin due to damaged tissue. You also run the risk of blood clots after someone is hit by high voltage.” When Ivan’s mouth tightened, Prairie hastened to add. “Siobhan’s potion should take care of that.”
“Alchemy to the rescue,” Siobhan said, rocking back on her heels. “Now what?”
“Now we assess.”
Gwen hovered near. “What if I help too?”
Prairie held up a hand to Gwen then placed her fingers against the pulse point in Ben’s neck. After thirty seconds she looked up at Gwen. “We don’t know what else we’ll face or what we’ll need your healing for. Siobhan’s potion seems to be working. I think a second one should do it.”
So saying she rose from her knees and brushed a hand over her forehead. Siobhan administered a second potion, remaining at Ben’s side. Ivan looked up at Prairie. “Can I let his head down?”
Prairie nodded, biting her lip, then turned to look at the bathroom with her hands pressed to her lower back. “We can’t risk anyone else going in there.”
“What about rubber-soled boots?” Dempsey stepped up next to her, braced his arm on the door frame and lifted one of his boots to reveal their soles.
Prairie eyed them but it was Ivan who answered. He rose to his full height, gave Ben a last look, then came over to the doorway. “While rubber insulates better than leather the standard sole of a boot is too thin and has the wrong design to be safe with a live current. Any moisture, direct, or sweat on the surface or permeated through the soles will compromise what little insulating value the boot has.”
Dempsey lowered his foot and scratched behind his ear. “Okay.”
While he and Ivan stared into the bathroom, Prairie stepped back to check on Ben. Siobhan looked up from beside him. “He seems to be coming around. Not conscious yet, which is worrisome.”
Gwen stooped down next to Siobhan and placed a hand on Ben’s forehead. Closing her eyes, she breathed. On inhale, a slower exhale. Another repetition of the same. Then she lifted her hand. “He’s in there and he’s okay.” A small smile creeped over her mouth. “Just doesn’t want to come out just yet.”
Patti wandered over to look down at Ben. “Makes sense. I’m not sure I’d want to come out to play right away after that.”
When Sass gave a pitiable peep from their house, Patti scooped the mouse out into her hand. It leaned over the end of her fingers and peered at Ben, making patting gestures with its hands on the tips of Patti’s fingers.
“I’m not sure Ben would like that, Sass,” Patti said.
“You can talk to the mouse?” Abe, who had come up beside them on kitten’s feet, asked, causing Patti to jump.
“Whoa! Scared me.”
Abe looked down at their feet. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Patti was quick to reassure. “And no, I can’t speak to Sass, but sometimes I can interpret, you know?”
Abe looked up, eyes wide, and tilted their head to give Sass a side-eye assessment. “Okay.”
Sass turned its head and gave Abe a look. And a nod. Abe smiled. And Patti smiled because one) cute mouse and two) when Abe smiled their whole face smiled so three) cute Abe.
Patti slipped Sass into their house then lifted her chin in the direction of the door. “Want to go stare at the water with us? They are trying to figure out a way across without us all dying.”
“Sure.”
They walked up to Dempsey’s suggestion of “Build a boat?”
Ivan framed his goatee with the fingers of his right hand. “With what?”
“What we got?”
“Not much. Your shield?”
“Rather not. Magick.”
“Valid.”
“You got anything?”
Ivan patted his pockets. “No. I can do big things if I have a workshop. Not so much on the fly.”
“Hopscotch over the furniture?”
“That bathtub has to be twenty-feet from here. I don’t see anyone vaulting that.”
Patti ducked her head over the doorway, careful to keep her feet firmly planted on the dry floor of the landing, and looked around the room. The bathtub was one of those old model free-standing things with the high white edges, curved bottom from which thrust curlicue legs, and a set of faucets arching from the center of the side against the wall, the style very much in keeping with the other rooms they’d passed through to get here.
Besides the bathtub there was a pedestal sink next to a toilet across the room from the bathtub. A delicate white wood chair with a pink cushion sat close to the far door they needed to reach. Other than that the room had the same floor as all the other levels so far, a mix of different colored stones set in a seemingly haphazard pattern. Although this one was sunk about four inches and those inches were full of water that lapped just below the door jam.
“Pretty death trap,” was her assessment.
“Yep.” Dan sidled over to peer sideways into the door from the left and around Ivan. “Plan?”
“We’ve ruled out boat,” Ivan said, “and were just about to rule out jumping from object to object because of the distance.”
“There are more stairs so there has to be a way to get to them.” Patti pointed out.
Dempsey frowned. “Unless the plan wasn’t to flood the bathroom and people are supposed to be able to walk across without dying.”
At Ivan’s “Huh?” Dempsey expanded. “You are assuming everything is a challenge and there’s some solution built in. Why?”
“Because that’s the way it worked before.”
“And who says it has to stick to that? What if its just random?”
Patti waved her hand, indicating the entire structure in the gesture. “None of this is random. It’s a construct. Right, Abe?” She turned to Abe for confirmation.
Abe ducked their head, then raised their eyes while keeping their chin tucked close to their chest. “Yes.”
“And if something is constructed it has a purpose.”
“Unless an element of chaos is planned in,” Dempsey suggested.
“Nothing up to now has suggested an element of chaos,” Patti said, “Except for us. I think we’re the element of chaos. The building and what happens in it, what grows out of it and affects us, that doesn’t seem to be chaotic.” She stopped dead mid-statement and jerked her head to the left and then the right. “Ow.” She plugged her right ear with a finger, wiggling it about. Then lowered it so she could shake her head like she was trying to get water out of that ear. “Son of a-”
In its house Sass made a funny squeak. Patti held up a finger and stepped away from the door and down a step, wincing as she did so. Prairie, who’d stooped down to take Ben’s pulse again, looked up, a question in her expression which Patti met with another finger wave.
Prairie shot a look to Siobhan on the other side of Ben, then to Gwen. Gwen rose to her feet and brushed off her legs. “I think Ben’s fine with two of us hovering.” She jerked her head in Patti’s direction, “I’ll go check that out.”
Gwen matched her pace to Patti’s uneven one, hands loose at her side while she maintained a quiet presence at Patti’s side. Down the stairs. Up. Down the stairs. Up.
When Patti stopped her pacing and looked around at the ceiling or the wall, Gwen stopped and waited. When Patti started up the pacing again, this time with under the breath muttering, Gwen just kept at her side. Even when Sass started what sure sounded like muttering Gwen kept silent.
After about three minutes of this, tight pacing up and down the stairs, Patti stopped, bit her lower lip, gave a querulous look to the air about six inches from her face – Gwen noted this as it was clear Patti was not looking at her or the wall or the stairs – then turned to Gwen. “Do you know Bridge Over Troubled Waters?”
“Uh, who doesn’t know Bridge Over Troubled Waters?”
“Faced with this situation, if you kept hearing it what conclusion would you draw?”
“Being me, I would draw the conclusion I have an earworm and potentially bang my head into a wall. But I don’t have your skills. What conclusion do you draw?”
Patti bit her lip. “How do we build a bridge when we have no materials?”
“Is it how we build a bridge or how you do? Building a bridge is a loaded term. It can mean making connections to someone else, right? Or-”
Patti’s eyes went wide and her head jutted forward towards Gwen. “Seriously! I could kiss you!”
“Only on the mouth.” Gwen grinned. “The rest of this,” she swept her hand over herself, “You gotta get to know me better.”
Patti snorted, then turned on her heel and strode up the stairs. Gwen followed, holding her hand to her side and muttering, “Why did I skip leg week?”
Patti kept to striding. Right up to where Dempsey, Dan, Ivan, and Abe were still standing by the door. Right on up to pushing her hand into Ivan’s ribs and indicating he should move. He did so with a frown, stepping back to make room for Patti who stepped right up to the jam with her toes protruding over the water.
“So,” Patti said, shoving up her sleeves. “A bridge in a song is used to change it.”
“Okay.” Ivan’s confusion was obvious in his slow drawl.
Patti held her hands out, fingers spread, and gestured at the bathroom. “And a bridge is what we need here.”
“Okay.”
Patti twisted to look back at the others. “So we have to build a bridge. Does everyone know Bridge Over Troubled Waters?”
“Doesn’t everyone?” Dan asked from the side of Ivan.
“So,” Patti curled back all but the pointer finger on both of her hands, gesturing in quick, sharp jerks at the water, her internal excitement extending out of her with the movement, “Let’s build a bridge!”
“Squee!” Sass cried in what sure felt like a reply.
“When you’re down and out. When you’re on the street. When evening falls so hard. I will comfort you.”
Patti broke singing to say “Here goes nothing!” then picked up the verse as she took a step out into nothing.
Ivan dove forward to grab her arm. She shook off his grip and took another step. Over the water. A solid, well, two inches above the water. It wasn’t a huge gap but it was a gap and she didn’t take a single jolt and her song kept on, “I’ll take your part. Oh when darkness comes-”
She turned and gestured to the group, jerking her head in the direction of the target staircase.
Dempsey looked at her, eyes wide. “Do we have to sing?”
Siobhan, who’d come up behind him and stood staring in awe of the Magick Patti was weaving, murmured, “That seems to be how this works.”
“I don’t sing,” Dempsey mumbled back.
“Well,” Siobhan pivoted her head so she could look around Dempsey and up to his face. “Today feels like a good day to start.”
Abe, who had been staring transfixed at Patti, scuttled ahead before anyone else could. In a clear tenor, they began to sing, “and pain is all, is all around,” then took a tentative step along the path Patti had moved. When their foot did not sink, they turned to Dempsey with an almost maniacal grin, then turned back and started walking slowly while continuing to sing.
Siobhan looked over to Ivan. “Can you carry Ben?”
“He still out of it?”
“Enough.”
“Okay.” That said he stepped back to where Prairie sat next to Ben. She looked up at his approach. “We’re moving out. I’ve got him.”
Prairie looked back at Ben then gave the sweetest damned smile to Ivan. “Okay. Be careful with him?”
“Always.”
Enter The Woods 