Watcher's Web

Watcher's Web Chapter 14

Jessica woke with a shock. She sat up, peeling sweaty sheets from her legs, wondering why she was awake, since it was still pitch dark. But then she heard faint shuffles from the darkness of the hall—and a giggle.

She heaved herself up and groped around the crates on either side of the door. The bottom crate still glowed faint blue, allowing her to see enough to find a makeshift weapon: a metal bar of some sort. She closed sweaty hands around it, and she waited, pressed against the wall next to the door.

Voices came closer, Pengali voices, female voices. Familiar.

Jessica lowered her makeshift weapon. That sounded like … "Ikay?"

A moment of silence, and then a couple of dark figures came in through the doorway. "Anmi, Anmi." Ikay enclosed her in a hug, with her characteristic minty smell, and her paper-skinned arms, and the rough touch of a tail.

Jessica dropped the metal bar.

It had been wrong to leave the Pengali settlement.

She stroked the old female’s hair, recognising the rounded shape of Dora over her shoulder.

Ikay led her into the living room. More dark silhouettes stood next to the window, or sat on boxes or on the table. There were at least six of them, and others were coming in from the courtyard.

How had they come in? What had they done with the soldiers who guarded the door? And what were they doing here?

But there was a more important thing she wanted to ask now she had the chance. "Show me how to do this." She pressed her hands together before her face. "I need to talk to this man."

Ikay spoke enthusiastic words, and pushed Jessica down on the table, settling opposite her, also on the table. Backlit by light coming in through the window, Ikay looked like a ghost.

Jessica willed the heat into her hands. It fought her, sparks breaking out all over her skin, eerily visible in the dark. Pengali voices chatted in urgent tones. Jessica kept her hands together, clenching her jaws.

Sparks floated from her hands in an incoherent pattern. The heat went everywhere except into her palms. She gave a frustrated cry. "Why can’t I do it? Why?"

Ikay took Jessica’s hands in hers, speaking soothing words. A long index finger traced a path over Jessica’s inner arm, leaving a faint glow in its wake. She did the same thing with Jessica’s other arm, then put her palms together and traced paths along the outside of her arms. When she had reached Jessica’s hands, she started again at the elbows.

Jessica closed her eyes and tried to push heat up her arms each time Ikay traced her fingers along her arms.

There was something calming about the touch of Ikay’s fingers.

Jessica tried to dip into that feeling of purpose, pouring all her being in just a small spot between her hands. Her nose itched. It irritated her and she broke her concentration to rub it with her arm. Ikay spoke a few admonishing words.

Jessica steeled herself.

Try again. This time, calm came over her as soon as she closed her eyes. The spot where the light was meant to go stood out clearly in her mind. Her skin warmed. Images swirled before her eyes. Darkness, spots of light, a sensation of movement. There was that man again. She tried to draw her consciousness to him, but a current dragged her along a different strand, as if she had fallen into a fast-flowing river. Her hands warmed, glowed and seared with pain. Damn it!

She jumped up, flapping her hands to cool them.

Ikay spoke a few stern words; the others just watched.