“It’s okay. You can have it,” he said.
“No. I don’t want it.”
“Just sit.”
“I said no.”
“What’s the problem?” Uncle Colin asked. Then his eyebrows shot up in realization. “Right. Of course. Only one. You’d think my math skills would be better than that. So, Eric, you should be the one to sit. You are the one we’re here for, after all.”
“It’s okay. I can stand.”
Uncle Colin seemed momentarily flustered. “Sure. You could stand. If that’s really what you’d like. But, um…” he hesitated. “It would be easier for me to put the scanner on your head if you were sitting down.”
“Scanner?” Maggie asked.
Eric looked alarmed. “What scanner?”
“Just your typical scanner. Well, with a few customized adjustments, of course.”
“What are you scanning me for?”
“Naturally, we need to test to see how much effect they’ve had on you.”
Eric had a million more questions but Keira said, “They used a talisman on him this afternoon.”
Uncle Colin jerked back as if he’d been shocked by a live wire. “Carl, did you hear that?”
Uncle Carl was still focused on his dial. “Hear what?”
“They…they used a talisman on him.”
Uncle Carl whirled around on the stool, a look of shock on his face. “What color?”
“Gold,” Keira said.
The two uncles stared at her for a moment, then put their heads together and whispered back and forth. When they pulled apart, Uncle Carl said, “Are you sure it was gold?”
“Show him,” Keira told Eric.
Carefully, he removed the sandwich bag from his backpack and held it out to the two uncles.
They immediately moved in for a closer look, their eyes only a few inches from the ball.
“Definitely gold,” Uncle Carl said.
“Definitely,” Uncle Colin agreed. “Spherical.”
“Yes,” Uncle Carl said, as if he were hoping it hadn’t been.
Without looking away, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ruler that had two sliding arms sticking from it. He placed one arm against the gold ball and slid the other arm until it was snug to the opposite side.
“Point-seven-five centimeters,” he read from the ruler.
“Are you sure?” Uncle Colin asked, surprised. “Did you take the thickness of the plastic bag into consideration?”
“Yes, yes. I took it into consideration.”
“That’s too big,” Uncle Colin said.
“Apparently not,” Uncle Carl said.
“You think that’s surprising,” Keira said. “Eric was able to move while he was still holding it.”
Both brothers instantly froze in place, staring at her.
Finally, Uncle Colin opened his mouth. “Wha…wha…what did you say?”
“You tell them,” she said to Eric.
“Uh, well, I couldn’t do anything at first except what they wanted me to do. Then, while everyone was fighting, my finger moved. I thought that if I could move a finger, I should be able to move everything.” He shrugged. “I guess whatever this thing is…a talisman, did you call it? I guess it must have run out of power.”
“My dear boy,” Uncle Carl said. “Talismans don’t ‘run out of power.’”
Uncle Colin leaned toward him. “You were…moving and holding the talisman?”
“Well, it was in my hand. The only thing I couldn’t do was open my fingers to let go of it.”
Uncle Collin looked at him for a moment, then looked at Uncle Carl, then back at Eric.
“My,” he said. “My, my, my, my, my, my. I believe, Carl, this is a first.”
“I believe you’re right,” his brother said.
Eric didn’t really care what it was. He shook the bag with the talisman in it. “Do I have to hold this thing all day or are you going to take it?”
“What?” Uncle Colin asked. “Oh, yes. Of course, of course.”
He pulled a rubber glove out of his pocket, put it on, then very gingerly took the bag from Eric. As he carried it over to the workbench, Uncle Carl pulled a container out of the storage cabinet and they put the ball inside. Once they’d sealed the container, they whispered to each other again.
Finally, they looked back at Eric, Uncle Colin wearing a large, forced smile on his face. “All right. Everything’s fine here. Nothing to worry about.” If possible, the smile grew wider. “Okay, the scanner, then.”
“Yes. The scanner,” Uncle Carl said, moving quickly to the other side of the workshop.
Uncle Colin put an arm around Eric’s shoulders and guided him to the stool. “If you’ll just sit here, it will make things much, much easier.” He glanced quickly at Keira then said in a voice he probably thought was quieter than it was, “When did he come in contact with…it?”
Keira shrugged. “I don’t know. Twenty or thirty minutes ago.”
“Which was it?” Uncle Carl asked. From the cabinet, he’d removed a plastic case that looked big enough to hold a bowling ball and was in the process of opening it on the workbench. “Twenty minutes or thirty minutes?”
“I don’t know,” Keira repeated. “We were a little too busy freeing him to check the time.”
“You should always check,” Uncle Carl said. “How many times have we told you that?”
“Uh, never,” she said.
“That can’t be true,” Uncle Colin said.
“Oh, believe me. It’s true.”
Uncle Colin smiled at Eric again and pushed him down on the stool. Then, without looking back at Keira, he said, “Well, you now know for next time. It could help you save someone’s life.”
“What?” Eric said, pushing himself to his feet.
“Oh, not you,” Uncle Colin said, gently forcing him back down. “You’re going to be fine. Just fine.” As he turned away, he added, “Hopefully, of course. Now where’s the scanner?”
“Hopefully?” Eric said.
Excerpt from the TFS Encyclopedia
Talisman
Name for item used by Maker surrogates to control subjects.
The talisman must be placed on the subject, such as in a pocket, for it to work. If talisman comes into direct skin contact for more than 30 minutes, it can cause permanent damage to the subject’s mental capacity. Shorter periods can cause illness and loss of memory.
There are several different levels and strengths of talisman, recognizable by a combination of color, shape, and size. For example, the weakest known talisman — a black disc, the size of a nickel — will simply freeze the subject wherever they are. Whereas the strongest — a red sphere half the width of a dime — will put the subject under complete surrogate control, including use of subject’s voice.
Talisman order of color strength, strongest to weakest:
red
gold
silver
blue
black
Talisman order of shape strength, strongest to weakest:
sphere
pyramid
cube
disc
Talisman sizes range from.5 centimeter to 2 centimeters. Surprisingly, the smaller the size, the more powerful the talisman.
12
Uncle Carl lifted something that looked like a cross between a football helmet and a strainer out of the case. There were several wires trailing from it, and the surface was covered with electronic components and tiny readouts.
As he carried it toward his brother, he glanced at a dial on its side. “It’s set to level seven. What do you think?”
“Sounds low to me,” Uncle Colin said.
“I agree. Eight, then?”