Page 54 (2/2)

Which did seem to be the case

Briefly Chrissie felt better, safer

On the other hand, if he really believed they were the only people in the school, why didn’t he put his gun away?

10

As he drove through his doht, which was still five hours away, Thoressed to a childlike condition Now that his triurownsustained, and he was relieved to do so He had never been an adult, really, but a boy whose ee of twelve, when the e of the moonhawk had not only come to him but been imbedded in him; he had thereafter faked erowth

But it was no longer necessary to pretend

On one level, he had always known this about hith, an advantage over those who had put childhood behind them A boy of twelve could harbor and nurture a dream with more determination than could an adult, for adults were constantly distracted by conflicting needs and desires A boy on the edge of puberty, however, had the single-ly to a single Big Dream Properly bent, a twelve-year-old boy was the perfect odlike poould not have reached fruition if he hadtriuain, not secretly any er to satisfy his every whi that broke the rules Twelve-year-old boys reveled in breaking the rules, challenging authority At their worst, twelve-year-old boys were naturally lawless, on the verge of hormonal-induced rebellion

But he wason cactus candy that had been eaten long ago but that had left a psychic if not a physical residue He was a boy who knew that he was a god Any boy’s potential for cruelty paled in coods

To pass the tiined what he would do with his pohen the last of Moonlight Cove had fallen under his coe ust

He was on Iceberry Way when he realized the Indian ith hideer sitting in the passenger seat Indeed he stopped the van in the middle of the street and stared in disbelief, shocked and afraid

But Runningdeer did not menace him In fact the Indian didn’t even speak to hih the windshield

Slowly understanding came to Shaddack The Indian’s spirit was his now, his possession as surely as was the van The great spirits had given hi deer, was in control this time, and the Indian would speak only when spoken to

"Hello, Runningdeer," he said

The Indian looked at him "Hello, Little Chief"

"You’re mine now"

"Yes, Little Chief"

For just a brief flicker of tideer was an illusion coughed up by a sick mind But monomaniacal boys do not have the capacity for an extended exaht passed out of his deer, he said, "You’ll do what I say"

"Always"

Immensely pleased, Shaddack let up on the brake pedal and drove on The headlights revealed an a fro of consequence, and when it loped away, he let it vanish froht-lance at the Indian, he said, "You know one thing I’ to do some day?"

"What’s that, Little Chief?"

"When I’ve converted everyone, not just the people in Moonlight Cove but everyone in the world, when no one stands againstdown your fa brothers, sisters, even your cousins, and I’ll find all of their children, and all their wives and husbands, and all their children’s wives and husbands … and I’ll make them pay for your cri petulance had entered his voice He disapproved of the tone he heard hi, but he could not lose it "I’ll kill all the men, hack them to bloody bits and pieces, do it myself I’ll let them know that it’s because of their relation to you that they’ve got to suffer, and they’ll despise you and curse your name, they’ll be sorry you ever existed And I’ll rape all the women and hurt them, hurt them all, really bad, and then I’ll kill them too What do you think of that? Huh?"

"If it’s what you want, Little Chief"

"Daht it’s what I want"

"Then you ht I may have it"

Shaddack was surprised when tears came to his eyes He stopped at an intersection and didn’t ht what you did to ht!"

"It wasn’t right, Little Chief"

"It wasn’t right at all"

"It wasn’t right"

Shaddack pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and blew his nose He blotted his eyes Soon his tears dried up

He sh the windshield He sighed He glanced at Runningdeer

The Indian was staring forward, silent

Shaddack said, "Of course, without you, I ht never have been a child of the round floor, in the center of the building, near a confluence of corridors Windows looked out on a courtyard but could not be seen frohts

It was a large chae lab, with each VDT in its own three-sided cubicle Thirty co three walls and in a back-to-back ron thearound at the wealth of hardware, Tessa said, "New Wave sure was generous, huh?"

"Maybe ’thorough’ is a better word," Sa for telephone lines and modems, but he found none