Coming out onto the veranda, magician greeted those gathered with a proud nod of his head and sat down in his place at the third letter. Saurris, Alyette, Tennius, Ounn, and Nonnie, they always sat in this order at the round table, each according to his own ray of the pentagram drawn on the table, and the letters that denoted each ray.
«So, what do you have to tell me, gentlemen, besides what was already said in your message? By the way, I am grateful that your messenger delivered it to me and my ward,» Tennius said, nodding slightly towards Saurris.
He replied with the same proud, barely noticeable nod, and said, «I would like to deal with this issue as soon as possible, because we still have a lot of much more important things on the agenda. So, as we’ve been informed, Mr. Tennius, your Ch-15 microchip had detected its location for a very short time. According to the information provided earlier, we learned that one of your two uninvited night guests named Andrey, left alive by your ward, found a chip in his pocket and handed it over to his older brother Peter, from the FSB services. It is still unclear to us how the teenager got the chip. I hate to cast aspersions on you and your subordinate, Mr. Tennius, but this is a very serious oversight. The absence of the device from the network turned out to be due to the fact that the special affairs officer isolated it. As we understand it, they are now most likely at their headquarters, from where removing it will be much more difficult. During the short time while the FSB officer removed the chip from the screen and brought it into a room inaccessible to the scanner, the operator was able to read the information transmitted by the chip. As it has turned out, I am more inclined to think that the actions of the guard Alex were still erroneous, and we would have had much less problems if he had eliminated the teenagers right away. We would like to hear from you some clarifications and suggestions for further action.»
Saurris nodded in triumph, signaling that he had finished. For a moment there was silence at the table, after which Tennius, with difficulty restraining his anger, tried to answer as calmly as possible.
«I don’t consider my actions or the actions of our guard wrong. I, and in general, we all were displeased by this, he looked around at all those present with a meaningful look. «Therefore, I think that it makes no sense to procrastinate on this issue further. I have already explained that the guard of Base No.18 changed his original intentions and made a different decision. His original decision was based on one piece of information, and then he correctly reacted to the warning signal and learned more information that influenced his solution. Processing this information, he proceeded to a quite reasonable conclusion, and acted as the instruction prescribes when it comes to special services. To our great regret, he failed to foresee all the consequences and calculate all the risks. However, in view of the unusual nature of the situation, I do not believe that he violated the rules of confidentiality. Therefore, I think it is appropriate that our further discussion should be more focused towards the elimination of the problem that has arisen, and not towards the search for accusations.» At that Tennius nodded proudly, indicating that he was finished.
«Well, I agree with Mr. Tennius, and I think that what he has proposed is quite reasonable,» said Ounn. «I’m sure you’re more than competent, keep your finger on the pulse of the matter, and be able to eliminate unpleasant consequences or the leakage of information, dear Mr. Tennius. Thus saving us from wasting time?»
«Yes, of course,» Tennius replied with an air of dignity.
«Dear colleagues,» Alyette addressed the assembly. «Forgive me my curiosity. Although this is a trifle, and an annoying one, I would still like to clarify it. Did you manage to find out how these uh… children… ended up with our chip?»
«Yes, I have found that out,» said Tennius. «If you are interested, I can show you this video. It does not take a lot of time. I can’t call it anything other than the intrigues of the Enemy, as the toggle switch was turned on, but not pressed to the end, and all the other actions of the guard ensued.»
After a few seconds of preparation, the magician turned on the recording, and all those gathered fixed their eyes on the holographic screen located directly above the table. The device allowed magicians to see the image equally well from all sides of the table. Nothing was noticeable on initial viewing, but when Tennius showed the video in close-up and slowed it down, it showed that the teen named Andrey could be seen leaning back as he fell asleep. At that moment his hand abruptly landed on the table. From the created micro vibration, one of the plastic containers on the opposite shelf opened just a little, and a small cylinder fell out of it and rolled on the table. Reaching the little finger of a teenager, the cylinder stuck to his nail, after which the hand slid off the table and hung along the body of the sleeping teen.
«Incredible!» Alyette exclaimed. «Why did it get stuck?»
«I have already asked myself this question,» said Saurris, «but I think the answer is obvious. The teenager climbed a tree before arriving at the base. Most likely, his hand touched the tree resin, which created an adhesive surface to hold the chip.»
«And then he mechanically put his hand into his pocket, and the chip peeled off and remained in his pocket,» Nonnie suggested.
«Y-yes, indeed, you can’t call it anything other than the intrigues of the Enemy,» Ounn replied grinning.
«And that takes the blame off Mr. Tennius and his ward considerably,» said Saurris thoughtfully.
«I propose to bury this question in the past,» Tennius reacted somewhat irritably to this remark. «Do you have any questions about what I am going to do with these young people?»
«Yes, you just need to remove all three, and that’s all,» Alyette said, nodding.
«And thereby arouse even more suspicion?» Ounn asked. «I was curious to find out that this FSB officer was not included in the circle of initiates, unlike his boss.»
«Even so,» Nonnie replied harshly. «We need to remember that we are at war. So, he just needs to be removed.»
«I completely agree. And these teens should have been removed immediately, but since we did not do that, I want to take revenge on them for all the trouble they caused us,» Tennius reacted to the comments.
«How disgusting,» Saurris chuckled. «But anyway, I agree. And the sooner the better.»
«Deal with this, Tennius, and quickly,» Ounn expressed his agreement. «Too much attention to such a trifle.»
«Then, dear colleagues, since the next question concerns Base No.56 and our beloved SRINT located nearby, I can leave you for a while to give the necessary orders to the guard Alex,» Tennius said and then left.
* * *
Kanny reached the barrier of fear and stopped at the point where his whereabouts could already be detected by the sensors. For the sake of the experiment, he decided to try again to return to human form and, concentrating, cast a spell. At the same moment, he felt the Spell as if it was reluctantly letting him go, and… in a moment he was a man again. The sensations were somewhat different than when he transformed in the presence of Alex. Here he performed the transformation on his own, and he succeeded. From the realization of this, his whole being overflowed with joyful pride. At the same time, he again noted that the process was far from being as painful as it was before. He did not see the terrible wolf grins around him, his consciousness did not grow cloudy, and he did not lose it. After examining himself and making sure that he looked normal, he quickly dressed and walked towards the house. He was always interested in the question of how quickly he would feel the barrier while in the human body. He could never find out, because he did not know how to transform on his own.
It turned out that he could walk another 200 meters before he began to feel the fear caused by the screen. The master said that the screen of fear was some kind of special radiation, designed to scare away all living things that were around, with the exception of the smallest creatures. A normal person, in theory, should have simply felt an unreasonable fear and turned in the other direction, not particularly aware of his actions. Now Kanny wanted to see if he could overcome the feeling of fear and still approach the base. Why he conducted such experiments on himself, he did not know. From the place where he initially felt fear, as a man, he managed to walk another 100 meters, constantly struggling with the instinctive desire to stop and go back. Or to simply turn in another direction.
There were still 300 meters to the base, but the owner’s house was still not visible behind the trees. However, Kanny had to ignore with all his strength the almost overwhelming desire to run away as far as possible from here. It was like a breathtaking fear of heights. If it were not for the conscious volitional decision to overcome this feeling, he would have succumbed to fear long ago and walked away. At some point, he even instinctively suddenly turned around to leave, but nevertheless, by an effort of will, he overcame this desire, which was close to panic, and continued to move forward.
«I think that if I can do it, some well-trained person may be able to walk all the way to the house.» he thought. As never before, he now felt the difference between the human and the wolf nature. As a beast, he was almost always instinctive first, and would have succumbed to spontaneous self-preservation long ago. Now, as a man, he seemed to block his sensations and go forward, regardless of anything.
«A wolf can’t do that, that’s for sure», – he thought.
About 200 meters from the laboratory, something strange began to happen to him, even though he was awake, he was having nightmares. Terrible pictures of hitherto unknown monsters began to appear before his inner eyes, and he was forced to stop, because he simply could not continue on his way. He clenched his fists and clenched his teeth, telling himself that this was just an illusion, when suddenly, in an instant, the strange obsession and feeling of fear were gone, and he felt a huge relief.
«Apparently, the master saw me and turned off the screen,» he thought, and rushed to the house on a run. Once at the front door, he stopped and waited for further orders. After a couple of minutes, the guard Alex opened the door and went out to meet him. Kanny took a step back and bowed low before his master.
«You were experimenting, weren’t you? All the sensors started to go crazy while you were walking here. Why did you have to get so close? Didn’t you feel the field?» the sorcerer asked sternly, although there was no accusation in his voice.
«I felt it, sir. I felt it very much. But I wanted to test how long an ordinary person can withstand it and fight the fear.»
«Well, 200 meters, as a rule, is the limit. Further madness is already possible. So, you took a chance, baby».
He liked it when the owner called him that. But for some reason he did not like the nickname Kanny, given by the magician Tennius. It seemed somehow humiliating, although he was used to it.
«Come in,» the master ordered. «Let’s discuss some details and learn how to dress.»
«Dress?» the werewolf thought in bewilderment, but did not ask unnecessary questions.
Chapter 6
After a hypnosis session and despite all the arguments of Peter, his superior chief, Colonel Morozov, ordered the children to be returned to the village. He said that the microchip, although worthy of attention, was not enough to seriously establish the idea that they were abducted. Either the hypnotist was not very experienced, or the session was not very noticeable, but the attempt to return their memories did not work. Andrey remembered that they were climbing a tree, and Lera remembered that they saw a certain light in the distance, and that they descended from the tree to reach it. Nothing that would explain how they got the chip, or how they got to the edge of the field.
Colonel Morozov didn’t give them a helicopter for the second time, saying that the situation was not weighty enough, and for such a trifle it was a luxury. Therefore, Peter had to take the children home in his car, after listening to his boss give a tirade in a raised voice that he used his official position, and occupied such serious equipment, for the wrong purposes. Peter was so much irritated by the conversation, that few times he caught himself on the fact that out of annoyance and misunderstanding of the Colonel he pressed the accelerator pedal, and he did not realize how fast his Audi Q7 was rushing. He set a buzzer for himself at 150 km/h so that an unpleasant squeak would remind him of the danger that driving at high-speed carried. With such a car as his Audi, Peter did not feel any difference in speed between 110 km/h and 170 km/h. The buzzer kept beeping, but Peter, immersed in thought, did not pay any attention to the beep-sound until his brother and sister reminded him to slow down. The feeling of annoyance changed to a feeling of anxiety, which in turn manifested itself to love and concern for his beloved younger brother and even more ardently and tenderly to his beloved younger sister, but since his initial feelings were not manifested by clear revealed evidence or argument, he could only obey the order.
If he had such an opportunity, he probably would not have taken them back to the village, but rather would have left them in the city. But he did not have sufficient reasons for such an action even to himself. Should he take them home? At home were his wife and two small children, a son, three years old, and his little sister, only seven months old. Besides the concern of their age he was aware that she was sick. He didn’t have enough room for Andrey and Lera. Of course, it would be possible to place his brother in the kitchen, and his sister in the nursery, and to take the baby to their bed with her mother, but… he still had no serious evidence that his siblings could actually be hunted. And even if he explained his actions to his wife, how long would it probably take to prove the correctness of his assumptions and the validity of his intuitions? The only course was to wait, and out of suspense and uncertainty, Peter again pressed the acceleration pedal with annoyance, overestimating the speed limit of 150 km / h that he had set for himself. When the buzzer squealed once again and squeaked for a long time, Peter came out of his state of thought, and noticed that his brother and sister had fallen asleep, because of how difficult their last few days had been.
«Yeah, now I’m the only one who can watch the speed,» he thought. «These two have fallen soundly asleep, and there is no one to tell me when I exceed the speed limit.»
At that moment the phone rang. Glancing at the display, Peter saw that his neighbor Veniamin, the most experienced hunter in the village, was calling. He answered the phone and switched on the loud-speaker.
«Hello, Uncle Venya. Why are you calling?»
«Hello, dear! I’ve been calling you all day long. Where have you disappeared to?»
«I was working. in the office, but what do you need me for? Is there something serious?»
«Well, I really think so. I need to tell you something about your brother and sister. There, after all, here’s what happened…»
Veniamin began the story by telling all the things that he had already told Maryana and Lyudmila, although in amore brief version. His hoarse voice woke Andrey, and hearing that it was about Lera and him, he began to listen carefully. At some point, he pushed Lera.
Waking up, she looked around in bewilderment and said determinedly, «What’s happened?»
«Shh,» Andrey shewed her by gesture to keep silent. «Listen, little sister. This is about us.»
