'That is an unanswerable question, for it has never been destroyed.'
'Wonderful,' Sam said sarcastically. 'How will I know this tablet?'
'It will know you, for the tablet is evil, and you represent good.'
'May I ask what may appear to be a foolish question?'
'Ask.'
'Why me? And who are you?'
'That is two questions. Which do you want answered?'
'The first one.'
'Because you are who you are.'
'Thank you so very much!'
'Sam!' Nydia touched his arm. 'Don't be ugly to … him.'
'You are … good,' the voice rumbled in their heads. 'Both of you. Not perfect, but no mortal is. And I have made my decision: I will help you.'
They both felt the force withdraw. They sat on the log. by the little creek, staring in amazement at each other.
'Sam?' Nydia said, her voice low. 'Is all this a dream? Are we both going to wake up back at school and laugh about this?'
'No. But I wish that were true.'
'Sam?'
'Umm?'
'I'm getting cold.'
'I brought two blankets and a ground sheet.'
'I wonder whatever on earth for?' She grinned shyly, then playfully but gently tickled his ribs. Gently because she knew how bruised they were.
'You really don't know?' Sam grinned.
'Oh, honestly, I don't!'
He showed her, both of them a bit timid and embarrassed, wondering if the face behind the voice was watching.
He was. And was both amused and concerned for them.
While Sam carefully inspected the two backpacks he had put together, and oiled and cleaned the .45 pistol and the old Thompson SMG, Nydia went unmolested to the kitchen, where she put together enough food to last them several days, carrying it back to their rooms. She encountered several people on the trips, but they ignored her, not looking at or speaking to her. She felt like a stranger in a strange land, unable to speak the language, and fearful of the inhabitants. She saw Jimmy Perkins, and he openly leered at her, rubbing his crotch as she passed him. She kept her eyes straight ahead.
She saw Mac in the study, speaking with Black and Falcon. The look she received from the young man was not friendly, and she suspected he had been swayed into accepting the Other Side. When she returned from the kitchen, she saw Vicky sitting on Mac's lap, the young man openly fondling her bare breasts, and she knew her suspicions were correct. She did not know how he had been so easily converted, only that he had.
Sam did not seem surprised at the news. 'Mac's weak,' he said. 'And he hasn't made many friends at school. The others told me he was a jack-off artist; couldn't get a date with anyone. That's probably one of the reasons Black invited him up here; knew he'd be an easy convert.'
'Then we're alone, except for Linda, and I don't like her,' Nydia said. 'Jack-off artist, Sam? That's sad.'
He shrugged. 'Nydia, what is it between you and Linda?'
She shook her head. 'I … hope I'm wrong about her—the way I feel. But I don't know.'
'Come:on, Nydia: the truth. Why don't you like her?'
She smiled, an obvious effort on her part. 'You're thinking I'm jealous . . . and in part, you're right. But only a very small part is jealousy, Sam. Hear me out,' she raised a hand as he started to interrupt. 'It's time. You remember on the way up here, that first day, the three of us? I told you I knew more about you than you thought? Well, Linda was my source of information. For the first few weeks of school, we roomed together.'
'Sure, now I remember: Black had a few dates with her.'
'My brother, in his eloquent manner of speaking, told me Linda didn't put out. That's why he stopped dating her. But he told her enough about you to get her interested, and she talked about you almost nonstop; almost as if she were desperate to get with you. I had to get out,.move into a different room. But that's not the main reason, Sam. I don't trust her. I think she's one of … them,' she averted her eyes to the door. 'And they don't know it.'
'I … don't follow you, honey.'
'All right, then hear this; tell me what it means: There is a … peculiar mark on Linda's chest, just under her left breast. She saw me looking at it and told me it was a birthmark. But that's no birthmark, Sam. I've seen others like it, on people visiting here at Falcon House. One time that same mark was on all the people here. I saw it when they
