“It’s based on affinity.”
Michael lowered his hands and opened his eyes to look at Gaul.
“You think?”
“Yeah,” Gaul said reasonably. “Witches can’t even form a circle unless they have a very strong rapport — we aren’t talking about vampirism, here, it has to be a consensual process. The boy manufactures and multiplies power, gentlemen, but consciously or unconsciously, he’s exercising discretion about who can use it.”
Michael sat back down next to Gaul, his brow creased with worry.
“Gaul, what is Mitsuru’s current classification?”
Gaul did not need to reach for the slaved Etheric tendril that trailed invisibly behind him to access the information — he’d wondered the same thing earlier that morning.
“She was Class E, at her last evaluation, with upward potential.”
“Operating a partial protocol,” Michael said quietly, looking at his old friend with sad eyes, “would be an M- Class operation, assuming it’s even possible, correct?”
Gaul nodded his agreement.
“Are you saying,” Vladimir asked incredulously, looking over at the comatose boy, “that this child is already an M-Class Operator? Impossible!”
“No, you’re right Vlad, he isn’t an Operator at all — he’s just a boy who seems to be capable, without activation, of M-Class operations,” Gaul said gravely.
Vladimir leaned back in his chair and whistled.
“I would not think such a thing possible. That is bad…”
“I’m afraid it gets worse,” Gaul said, again pushing up his glasses, a tick that Michael knew grew more pronounced when he was stressed. “I’m afraid that this boy is anything but your average, ordinary child.”
“How so?”
“Alexander Warner,” Gaul said, nodding to indicate the boy. “His father was an abusive drunk — a number of domestic disturbance and family complaints on record, multiple DUIs, all resolved without jail time. Some bruises were noticed at school, when Alex was twelve, and there was a visit or two from Children’s Protective Services over the years. All to no avail. Alexander’s father met his end in a fire six years ago, a fire that also took the life of Alexander’s mother and sister.”
“So? That is bad, yes, but…”
“Alexander set the fire,” Gaul said softly, “or at least he believes he did — I lifted the impressions from him earlier, when I did a fairly deep scan. He spent a number of years in institutions, before being released into his grandmother’s care two years ago. She died, of natural causes, last August.”
Michael looked at the boy sympathetically, while Vladimir shook his head and muttered darkly.
“He has been on his own, when he wasn’t institutionalized. The community he returned to blamed and ostracized him, and he was small enough to be the target of violence and abuse in the juvenile facility. Alexander withdrew, almost completely — no real incidents, no run-ins with the law, nothing like that. But, when I probed him earlier, I didn’t find a single connection, not one person he has any serious emotional commitment to. He’s never had a friend, never so much as touched a girl’s hand. I’m not sure he’s even capable of forming bonds. or caring about other people, at this point. He’s damaged goods, gentlemen, and we’ve been down this road before.”
“Did he actually kill his family?”
Michael seemed curious, but not particularly troubled.
“You made it sound a bit doubtful.”
Gaul shrugged.
“I can’t be certain — the impressions are too vague. He thinks he did, and he thinks he’s glad he did. He remembers closing the front door behind him and walking away from a burning house. I’d say it’s fairly likely.” Gaul frowned and waved one hand dismissively. “Whatever the case, the reality of the trauma remains.”
“You believe that he is dangerous?” Vladimir demanded, pointing one blunt finger at Gaul accusatorily. “Many of us have come from unhappy places, Gaul, and we do not all become monsters.”
Gaul shrugged again, tiredly.
“I don’t know anything for certain,” Gaul admitted. “But, I do know that Alexander Warner has no idea how to care for, or to be cared for, by other people. At best he’s been ignored, at worst, he’s been brutalized. And, incidentally, he has enough power locked inside of him to decimate a third of our student body, even only partially activated. If we choose full activation, there’s no telling what will happen. It’s impossible to predict.”
Vladimir and Michael exchanged worried glances.
“I don’t think he’s dangerous, Vladimir.” Gaul leaned forward, his eyes cold and bloodshot pink. “I know it, even without a roomful of analysts. He’s a bomb waiting to go off, and that’s without considering the political ramifications.”
Michael spoke from behind his steepled hands; his voice was reflective, pensive.
“Any cartel that finds out about him, they’ll want — no, they’ll
There was a pause, and both Michael and Vladimir knew that Gaul, always exact, was consulting the Etheric network. He did not need to close his eyes; there was no obvious change in his body or demeanor. His gaze simply grew distant for a moment while he communed with the Etheric graft in his forebrain.
“Four,” Gaul said, his voice mechanical, his eyes unfocused. “Though there are perhaps another two or three who could reach that level, under optimum conditions.”
“So he’s the biggest unclaimed piece on the board,” Michael continued. “He could shift the balance…”
Gaul shook his head, looking grim.
“It’s worse than that,” he said flatly, looking at the boy. “The conflict won’t be limited to the Hegemony and the Black Sun — every individual cartel will want him for their own — and they’ll all make their own play for him. Think of the advantage, the prestige they could gain…”
“Chaos, then,” Michael agreed. “With everyone making a play for our Alexander, here.”
“And the easiest play,” Vladimir said frankly, “is to simply eliminate the boy.”
Both other men looked at him, surprised.
“What? It’s true,” Vladimir said dismissively, “you said it yourself, Gaul. The danger of him joining another faction is greater than the advantage to be gained by having him join their own, if you are playing safe.”
“It’s true,” Gaul said, in the definitive way that both men knew meant he had just checked the probability threads. “The chances of him being killed are quite high.”
“Some of the less conservative types will try and make a play for him,” Michael mused, “using whatever they can. Bribes, intimidation…”
Vladimir snorted.
“They will use girls, fool,” he scoffed. “He is a teenage boy, after all. Young love will work far more effectively than indoctrination.”
Michael felt obscurely grateful that Gaul was not moved to confirm the probability here, at least out loud. He was extremely fond of the Director, but at times his detachment and his frankness made him uncomfortable to be around. Sometimes it was sort of like trying to be friends with a computer.
“Then the Hegemony will probably use Emily Muir, she’s perfect for this,” Michael said thoughtfully, then grinned. “Maybe it’s not so bad to be Alexander, after all…”
Vladimir laughed. Gaul smiled mirthlessly and then shook his head.
“Why do we not then make him one of your Auditors, Gaul? Surely, whatever his other attributes, he has the potential. You are allowed six, yes? And last I heard, you have only four…”
“I thought the same thing,” Gaul replied sourly. “I’ve been running numbers all morning looking for a way to just that. He certainly has the potential for it, assuming we can salvage him. And it would exempt him from the machinations of the cartels. But, it wouldn’t work.”
“Why not?” Vladimir demanded.
“The Hegemony and the Black Sun — they’d both regard it as poaching,” Gaul said hopelessly. “They’d claim
