Terian set down a new glass of water. He stood, watching Revik drink. Revik calculated the length of his arms, the range of motion provided by the chain.
He mapped out every centimeter, every millimeter...
“...like Alyson?”
Revik opened his eyes. He blinked. “What?”
“Elise, Revi’. Do you remember?”
“She slept with him,” Revik managed. “Had his child.”
The light evaporated. He dug frantically in the dark, his fingers broken and bleeding. He was starving to death slowly, so thirsty he can’t swallow. Laughter came from outside the iron door, a shock of light after the lock screeched from the wall. Merenje opened the door, drunk, stumbling at the top of the stairs. He had a woman with him, her eyes were green—
“Want to play with an ice-blood, girl? A real one?”
Revik yanked on the chain, yanked, and his wrists bled...
Terian slapped him, hard. “Who did you report to, Revi’? In those years?”
Revik saw a black swastika on a white circle, blood red behind. Bodies piled in pits, like bleached white dolls. Out of bullets. He was out of bullets. They wanted him to beat them to death now, hit them with gun stocks in the back of the head, rocks, run them over with panzers. Memories slithered forward. She ran through the field, trailing dark hair. Brown eyes laughing, teasing him to follow, to chase her.
Leaning down, Revik sank his teeth into his own wrist, holding the vein right where his canines would pop it.
He rolled his eyes up, fixed his stare on Terian.
The Sark chuckled. “You would not.”
Revik bit down, hard.
Blood squirted into his mouth. He was hungry, so fucking hungry. He drank his own blood, feeling sick, strangely relieved. It would be over now. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the seer rise, saw his mouth move just before everything started to gray.
His eyes opened. Time passed, or not.
He couldn’t move his head. He tried to lift it, then his arms. Terian squatted beside him, his yellow eyes calm.
“You will remember more now, Revi’,” he said. “I can’t say I envy you, when you do...but perhaps you will feel free again, yes?”
Revik saw a tube running down, dripping liquid, mingling with his blood.
Something squirmed on his neck and throat. Something alive.
He remembered Allie feeding him light, curled up in his arms when he first woke up in that bed in Seattle. Pain hit him, worsening as he wondered why he hadn’t kept her there, why he let himself fall back asleep, why he hadn’t followed her when she left the room. He remembered her fingers as she sketched, her jade green eyes concentrated...telling him she wanted to go after Galaith, the light in her eyes dying when he said he wouldn’t help her.
Terian was right. Gods, Terry was right.
Why hadn’t he asked her? Why hadn’t he asked her, in all of that time?
A rusted metal building loomed over him, standing alone in the middle of a field. He looked up, and saw windows smashing outwards, glass shattering, pulverized to the consistency of sand. He heard his own voice, laughing into the sky, laughing, imagining that fucker Stami’s face if he saw him now. If he saw...#p#分页标题#e#
Cass sat near him, chained to the wall. Giant insects crawled by her feet, touching her skin with softly probing antennae.
“Cass,” Revik managed. “Don’t move. Be careful...”
She grinned. Hey, big guy. You want one?
Raising her foot, she smashed the hard brown shell of a fist-sized beetle with her bare heel. She picked it up, stuffed the whole thing in her mouth, crunching noisily.
He watched her, feeling sick, faintly envious. Hunger tugged at the edges of his light, making his head sink lower, making it feel as heavy as metal.
“They gave me too much,” Revik told her.
It’s the wire, brother, she told him. The wire on your neck...
Cass laughed, her mouth full of jointed legs. She flattened another insect, popped that one in her mouth, too. Jon stood over her, making chopping motions in the air with his hands. He wore a robe like the monks wore back home. Revik got dizzy, watching his flailing arms.
Stop screwing around, Jon told him. Clock’s ticking, man...
“...Do not misunderstand me,” Terian-2 was saying. “Over the years, I have found it patently not useful to judge the contradictory natures that arise within myself. Where they occur, I simply create a new vessel in which to house them.” He leaned closer, clasping lizard-like hands. His tongue darted out, wetting his lips, and Revik recoiled. “...You can see the symmetry behind this, can you not, my friend?” Terian’s teeth lengthened. “All parts culminating in their most authentic expression? There is no need for repression, Nenzi. No need to hold back any desires housed in the darker corners of your attic...”