Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls - Jane Lindskold [39]
“Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge,” I reply, nodding.
“Let’s test this out,” Abalone says, leaping to her feet. “Sarah, can you hear anything talk?”
Again I am at a loss how to answer honestly. I am beginning to believe I might be able to hear anything speak if I try hard enough, but on the occasions I have—such as the terrible day in the Jungle when memory of Dylan opened my mind—the rush of voices has been more than I can handle without being overwhelmed.
I shake my head, reluctantly telling a half-truth.
“I am a brother to dragons, a companion to owls,” I suggest, proffering Betwixt and Between.
“You’re saying you can hear them?” Abalone confirms.
When I nod, she goes on, “What I have in mind is for Sarah to go into her room and close the door. Then we’ll whisper something to Betwixt and Between and if she can really communicate with it, she’ll be able to tell us what we said.”
“I’ll agree,” Professor Isabella says, “if we use a quote from some work that Sarah knows. I’ve noticed that she can’t parrot anything—she needs to attach importance to it. I suspect that this is a side result of her empathy.”
“Flash with me,” Abalone agrees. “Are you game, Sarah?”
“Yes.” I nod solemnly.
“Us, too,” Between says, “and thanks so much for asking while you’re at it.”
I go to my room and sit on my bed, contemplating the oddness of this all. Around me, I can hear the comfortable grumbles of the building’s brick walls as they twinge and settle in the chill and damp.
A rap on the door summons me. Abalone and Professor Isabella look expectant and Betwixt and Between sit in the middle of the rug, looking smug.
I pick them up and scratch Between’s eye ridge and Betwixt’s jawline coaxingly. The dragons sigh happily.
Between says, “Merchant of Venice, One, three. The bit about the devil and scripture.”
I smile, aware that the dragons are salvaging their pride by being a bit difficult. Then I look at Abalone and Professor Isabella.
“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. An evil soul, producing holy witness, is like a villain with a smiling cheek, a goodly apple rotten at the heart: O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!”
“She got it!” Abalone says excitedly.
“This is hardly a controlled experiment,” Professor Isabella murmurs, “but, ruling out telepathy and other unlikely phenomena, I agree. She does seem to have it.”
They are so excited that even Betwixt and Between willingly accede to further tests. When we have finished some hours later and are sipping tea with honey, Abalone suddenly looks apprehensive.
“If Sarah can talk to things, does that mean she can, like, well, learn stuff about people? Private stuff?”
Professor Isabella smiles softly. “Probably. But the question isn’t really ‘can she?’ it is ‘would she?’ isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Abalone says, scuffing her feet on the linoleum. “Once I learned how to crack files, I got really interested in finding out what other people were hiding. I guess I’m wondering if Sarah is like that, too.”
“Ask her,” Professor Isabella suggests.
“Well, Sarah, I figure you know I’ve been kinda secretive about some stuff. Did you ever, like, check me out?”
I shake my head, patting her hand. “A secret’s safe ‘twixt you, me, and the gatepost.”
“Does this make me the gatepost?” Professor Isabella chuckles. “Honey, you didn’t even ask, did you?”
I shake my head. “Those friends thou hast and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.”
Abalone squeezes me. “You’re all right, Sarah. Y’know, weird as they make them, but all right.”
Smile fading, Professor Isabella says, “I’m worried. If Ivy Green let Sarah go something like fifteen years ago, why do they—or someone—want her back now?”
“Now?” Abalone shakes her head. “I’m not sure, but I can think of lots of reasons for wanting someone who can do what she can do.”
“We can keep asking questions,” Professor Isabella says, “but you do realize what this means. We have to get Sarah out of here—this is no longer just keeping her from getting recommitted. This is keeping