Colene tuned out, satisfied that justice was being done. There was the sound of a police siren, but in the minute or so it would take for the police to arrive the job would be complete and the motorcycles would be gone. There would be no adequate police report; it was just another incidental rumble. No one would know what had really happened, not even the participants. Except for the members of the hive.
“You must be very happy, dear,” Colene’s mother remarked, noting her smile.
“I think I am,” Colene agreed, allowing her mother to believe that thoughts of the wedding were responsible. Actually that too was worth smiling about.
But things were not going as well in the tent. Burgess was having a reaction to one of the pills. His body was shaking and his air was flowing erratically. The calculated risk was miscalculating.
“Mom, let’s take a break, okay?” Colene said, shrugging out of the dress-in-the-making. “I’ll be back.” She hurried to the back door.
“But you can’t go outside like that!” her mother protested.
Colene realized that she was in bra and panties. “I’ll put something on,” she said over her shoulder as she exited. Then, to Nona: Clothe me with illusion.
When her mother looked out, she saw Colene in normal street clothes. The woman turned away, blinking. Why had she thought Colene would go out unclothed?
Colene entered the tent. Nona was sitting with both hands on Burgess’ contact points, trying to steady him physically and emotionally. Colene plumped down on the other side, taking hold of two more points.
Now she felt the distress within the floater, which did not transmit well by telepathy. He had indeed been poisoned by the pill; something in it was bad for him. He was sick, feeling somewhat the way a person would when it was necessary to throw up. “Clear it out, Burgess!” she cried. “Just blow out the rest of that powder, if you can. We won’t give you any more like that.”
It was too late to blow it out, because he had taken the pill most of an hour before. But Colene’s presence, physical and mental, calmed him. His shuddering eased, and he became normal. But still very weak. He still needed that missing element.
“I tried to help, but I don’t relate as well as you do,” Nona said apologetically. “When you came, he started to get better. I could feel the change.”
“Maybe it’s my telepathy,” Colene said. “It helps me get in closer touch, when Seqiro’s at a distance.”
“Whatever it is, I lack it,” Nona said. “My magic just doesn’t help him.”
Colene let go. “Let me see those pills,” she said. She took the bottles and scanned their listed contents for common ingredients. “This is the first one with fish oil,” she said. “Must be something in it that makes him allergic. We’ll set aside any other with fish oil.”
She culled the remaining bottles. “Keep trying them,” she said. “Just don’t give him these three.” She marked the three with X’s and put them aside. “Now I have to go back inside, before Mom gets upset. But call me if you need me.” She grasped Burgess’ contact points again, giving him emotional reassurance, then departed.
She returned to the house. She paused in the kitchen. Vanish the clothing, she thought to Nona, and it faded out.
Now she could get back into the wedding dress, which was standing on petticoat hoops in the living room.
She had hardly resumed that business when she became aware of more activity by Darius and Seqiro. This time they had found the rapists! The boys who had tricked Colene to their apartment and coerced her into sex. She had known it would be futile to go after them, because it would only be her word against theirs, and the men always won that round. But she had reckoned without Seqiro’s power. All four were heading down to the police station to make detailed confessions.
But this was where Darius and Seqiro’s inexperience hurt. The police would not just take the word of the four; they would seek to verify it objectively, by interviewing Colene herself—and Colene would be gone. That would deflate the case. Especially since the boys would recant their confessions the moment Seqiro wasn’t there to keep them straight. Darius just didn’t know how things were, here on Earth; he thought one action would take care of it. There was a certain charm in his naïveté.
Except that it turned out that there had been other girls. Colene hadn’t thought of that. Go after another girl first, she thought hard to Seqiro. He would see that the first confession featured one of the others, who would still be available, and that might be enough to establish the case. They normally made the case from just one example, so that if that failed, they could take up the next example as a new charge. It made sense. Certainly those four boys would be in for the hassle of their lives before this was done. That was a nice thought.
“You are smiling again,” her mother observed.
“I was thinking of the nice things my friends are doing for me.” Such as diddling the diddlers. There was immense satisfaction in that.
Then they worked on her hair. She had always worn her brown tresses loose and shoulder length, trying to cultivate sensual curls, but now her mother bound them up with a sparkling tiara.
The dress was finally ready. Colene had to admit that she looked extremely mature and fetching in it, sort of like a picture. She was small, but some women were. She was young, but women were supposed to look young. The dress actually aged her somewhat, by its conservative lines, and the hairdo transformed her face. The bodice even made her bosom look fuller. She hardly recognized herself.
“Oh, Mom!” she cried, hugging her. She hadn’t wanted anything this fancy, but now that she was in it, she loved it. This was just one terrific experience.
“Now you had better rest,” her mother told her, pleased. “You will have a big day tomorrow, and you want to look fresh.”
She was making sense. So Colene went upstairs to her old room and lay down on her old bed. Everything was charged with nostalgia, now. She couldn’t really relax, of course, but this was a good place to be in touch with the others.
Burgess was unchanged, finding neither poison nor cure in the next pill Nona administered. That was getting worrisome. Suppose none of the pills worked? Would it mean that they just hadn’t found the right one yet, or that the whole theory was wrong? They just had to find something to make Burgess better, and to keep him better. That was the whole reason they had stopped here on Earth.
She tuned in on Darius and Seqiro. Now they were addressing their true mission, the Sin Eater. They had learned all about the situation, which was ugly, but were still trying to figure a solution. There didn’t seem to be one. Were they going to have to let it go? Darius had discovered that his joy-spreading magic worked on Earth, when he was with Seqiro, but there was no joy to be spread in that neighborhood, only grief. Those miserable folk were as bad as Colene herself, except that they got their kicks from humbling others. That made them worse.
Yet there had to be some way. Colene cudgeled her brain—and came up with it. No misery was worse than that of the Sin Eater, or less deserved. Why not spread that around? At least it might teach that community a lesson.
When everyone felt as bad as the Sin Eater, maybe they would stop being so mean to him. It was worth a try. She fired that notion off to Seqiro, and he suggested it to Darius. In a moment Darius was doing it, drawing from Raff, then sending it out to everyone in range. The effect was stunning—for everyone except the Sin Eater himself, who was used to it.
Would it have the desired long-term effect? It would be hard to know. But it was most gratifying for the short term. Darius and Seqiro had done excellent work this day, settling scores with the beat-up punks, the rapists, and the oppressors of me Sin Eater. Now if tomorrow just went as well…