The Seeker - Isobelle Carmody [43]
“I can’t meld,” I said desperately, fearing the revelation that would result almost as much as I feared the terrible force that held my mind and drew my body forward.
“You must,” said the othermind urgently.
I was in the doorway now, and I was suddenly fearful that whoever controlled the force that had taken hold of me was determined to make me reveal who I was. Terror gave me strength, and I swayed uncertainly, neither moving forward nor back as I battled the force with every bit of strength I could muster.
It was not enough. I stepped out into the sunlight.
“I will meld,” I agreed in desperation. The othermind moved forward at once, and I felt a great desire to simply surrender to those soft tendrils. But as if it knew my fear of a deeper melding, the othermind held itself rigidly away from the center of my thoughts.
“Now!” it called, and we began a terrific tug-of-war. As predicted, the machine, if such it was, tried to keep us both but did not have the strength. The moment it slid off me, I slammed a shield into place.
I staggered back inside the stables, appalled to discover the extent of my weakness. My face dripped with perspiration, and I wiped it hastily on my sleeve.
A machine able to exert a force that could capture a mind! I was astounded and frightened, and not only because someone was apparently using a forbidden Beforetime device. It was the knowledge that whoever was using it might know about people like Matthew and me. And so, I thought, must the Oldtimers who had created such a machine. But I dismissed that notion. My abilities, like Matthew’s and Dameon’s, were Misfit abilities that had arisen from the poisons of the Great White.
My more immediate concern was the identity of the strange othermind that had helped me.
There was nothing to do but to get on with mucking out the stables, and I did so slowly, because the battle with the machine had drained me. I cursed the stupidity that had led me to farseek. I would not dare attempt it again. In fact, I was now too frightened to use any but the most basic powers, for perhaps any use of my abilities would draw that malevolent force to me again. And the othermind might not be there to rescue me a second time.
My vague notion of escape grew into a determination to get away from Obernewtyn and all of its mysteries and dangers. Cameo must come, and Dameon and Matthew. I knew of no other I cared to trust. Fleetingly, I thought of my rescuer. A man, I thought, but there was no way to contact him without arousing the machine. Anyway, he seemed smart and strong enough to take care of himself, and he had spoken of friends, so he was not alone.
Learning what had happened over midmeal, and agog with delight to hear of the othermind, Matthew disagreed. “If we really are going to escape, yer bound to take him an’ his friends, too. After all, he saved ye.”
“There is no way to learn who they are with that machine ready to catch any probe,” I said.
“There must be some way,” he insisted, entranced with the idea of my gallant rescuer.
I was less romantic. “He might not even want to leave. We don’t know if he is a Misfit or if he is at Obernewtyn. I’m not even really sure it’s a he. And the whole thing might have been a trap.”
“Ungrateful Elspethelf,” Matthew sputtered into thought.
“He helped me, and I am grateful he saved my life,” I conceded hastily, forestalling one of Matthew’s emotive lectures. “Which is why I am not going to throw it away trying to learn who he is. That would be truly ungrateful.”
“Speaking of help,” Dameon interjected quietly, “I have been thinking. If you really intend to escape, you should not take me. I would slow you down. And it is not so bad for me here.”
“Of course yer comin’ with us!” Matthew said firmly. “We’ve taken yer blindness into account.”
Dameon smiled at his friend sadly. “Sometimes I think you have more heart than sense. Most times,” he corrected comically, and we all laughed. Then Dameon grew serious again. “Well, if I am to come, then I will speak. This is a dead quest from