“If I had, I’d know what he said. I was coming upstairs a few minutes ago. I saw you go into his room.” She sat up and looked at him intently. “What did he say, Karl?”
“He said no.”
“Oh.” She lay down again. “I knew damned well he would. I just keep hoping.”
“You’re going to have to fight.”
“I know.”
“And you’re going to win. You’re going to kill him. You’re going to do whatever you have to do to kill him!”
Like a latent, she turned onto her side, clutched her head between her hands, and curled her body into a tight knot.
The next day, Karl called the family together. Mary had gone to see August, and Karl wanted to talk to the others before she returned. She would find out what had been said. He planned to tell her himself, in fact. But he wanted to talk to them first without her.
They already knew why Mary had called in her searchers. They didn’t like it. Mary’s enthusiasm over the Pattern’s growth had infected them long ago. Now Karl told them that Mary’s submission could not last. That Mary’s own needs would force her to disobey, and that when she disobeyed, Doro would kill her. Or try to.
“It’s possible that with our numbers we can help her defeat him,” Karl said. “I don’t know how she’ll handle things when the time comes, but I have a feeling she’ll want to get as many of the people away from the section as she can. Doro has told us that actives couldn’t handle themselves in groups before the Pattern. I know Mary’s afraid of the chaos that might happen here if she’s killed while we’re all together. So I think she’ll try to give the people some warning to get out of Forsyth, scatter. If any of you want to scatter with them, she’ll almost certainly let you go. The idea of other Patternists dying either because she dies or because she takes too much strength from them is bothering her more than the thought of her own death.”
“Sounds like you’re telling us to cut and run,” said Jesse.
“I’m offering you a choice,” said Karl.
“Only because you know we won’t take it,” said Jesse.
Karl looked from him to the others, let his gaze pass over them slowly.
“He speaks for all of us,” said Seth. “I didn’t know Mary was in trouble. She hides things too well sometimes. But now that I do know, I’m not going to walk out on her.”
“And how could I leave the school?” said Ada. “All the children …”
“I think Doro has made a mistake,” said Rachel. “I think he’s waited too long to do this. I don’t see how any one person could resist so many of us. I don’t even see why we have to risk Mary, since she’s the only one of us who’s irreplaceable. If the rest of us got together and?”
“Mary says that wouldn’t work,” said Karl. “She says it wouldn’t even work against her.”
“Then, we’ll all have to give her our strength.”
“To be honest, she’s not sure that will work either. Doro says strength alone isn’t enough to beat him. I suspect he’s lying. But the only way to find out for sure is for her to tackle him. So she will gather strength from some or all of us when the time comes. We’re the only weapons she has.”
“If she’s not careful,” said Jesse, “she won’t have time to try it?or time to warn the people to scatter. Doro knows she’s in trouble, doesn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“He might decide there’s no point in waiting for her to break.”
“I’ve thought about that,” said Karl. “I don’t think she’ll let him surprise her. But, to be sure, I’m going to start work on her tonight?talk her into going after him. Preparing herself, and going after him.”
“Are you sure you can talk her into it?” asked Jan.
“Yes.” Karl looked at her. “You haven’t said anything. Are you with us?”
Jan looked offended. “I’m a member of this family, aren’t I?”
Karl smiled. Jan had changed. Her art had given her the strength that she had always lacked. And it had given her a contentment with her life. She might even be a live woman
now, instead of a corpse, in bed. Karl wondered briefly but not seriously. Mary was woman enough for him if he could find some way of keeping her alive.
“I think Doro has made more than one mistake,” said Jan. “I think he’s wrong to believe that Mary still belongs to him. With the responsibility she’s taken on for all that she’s built here, she belongs to us, the people. To all of us.”
“I suspect she thinks it’s the other way around,” said Rachel. “But it wouldn’t hurt if we went to some of the heads of houses and said it Jan’s way. They’re our best, our strongest. Mary will need them.”
“I don’t know whether I’ll be able to get her to take them,” said Karl. “I intend to try, though.”
“When Doro starts chewing at her, she’ll take anybody she can get,” said Jesse.
“If she has time, as you said,” said Karl. “I don’t want it to come to that. That’s why I’m going to work on her. And, look, don’t say anything to the heads of houses. Word will spread too quickly. It might spread to Doro. God knows what he’d do if he realized his cattle had finally gotten the nerve to plot against him.”
Chapter Twelve
MARY
When I woke up on the morning after Karl had talked to Doro, I found that my hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I felt the way I had a few days before my transition. With Karl, I didn’t even bother to hide it.
He said, “Open to me. Maybe I can help.”
