That had done me good. I ran through Mr. Wu’s large selection of wise sayings for one to suit the situation, but I could think of only one in a hurry, and it wasn’t really appropriate. All the same, on principle, I came out with it: “When the wind of change blows, some build walls, some build windmills.”
However, Senator Tod wasn’t interested in wise sayings. He was having difficulty shaking off the spiders he had imagined into being himself, as I noticed with satisfaction. When he had finally done it, Arthur’s door opened, and Arthur came out.
“Am I in the way?” he inquired, looking from me to Senator Tod and back again.
“Not at all,” I said as Arthur’s door closed behind him. “Frodo here and I are just having a shot at applied psychology. Did you know that…” But I got no further, because Senator Tod had straightened up, raised his arm, and thrown something that looked like a bolt of lightning at me. It would have hit me, too, if a kind of energy field hadn’t formed in the corridor right in front of me like a wall. The bolt of lightning bounced off it and shattered into a thousand tiny sparks.
Arthur looked surprised, and only now did I realize that he wasn’t the one who had come to my rescue.
I spun around. Henry. He was standing a little way behind me in the corridor, holding the palm of his hand up in front of Senator Tod. At the sight of him, my heart started racing the way it ought really to have raced when I saw the spiders just now. Where had he come from all of a sudden? Had he been here all the time? Had he perhaps been watching me and following me all along?
He was looking good, better than ever, pale, with bright-gray eyes and a slight smile on his lips. With a casual movement, he dug his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Arthur applauded.
Senator Tod seemed to be temporarily speechless. He was staring at all three of us with hostility.
“Who are you supposed to be impersonating now, Senator? Thor, the god of thunder? Or Zeus?” Henry shook his head pityingly. “Delusions of grandeur, black leather, lightning—a clear case of megalomania. But I’m sure you made the same diagnosis yourself long ago, didn’t you, Dr. Anderson?”
Senator Tod looked as if he’d been caught in the act of wrongdoing. He straightened his hat.
“Dr. Anderson?” Arthur repeated.
Henry nodded. “Dr. Otto Anderson. Anabel’s psychiatrist in the hospital. He’s a bit fatter and shorter in real life, and he wears glasses, but, hey, who wants to look the same in dreams as in real life?”
It was obvious that this news took Arthur completely by surprise. His face expressed a whole range of emotions in turn. Astonishment. Understanding. And finally anger. His jaw muscles were working.
“Did Anabel send you? Are you letting a girl of eighteen exploit you?”
Dr. Anderson had recovered a little, and seemed to be gradually getting his usual self-confidence back. “Your girlfriend, Anabel, is right—you three really are still children,” he said with a brief, scornful laugh. “I don’t let anyone exploit me, certainly not a schizoid girl like her. However, I’m grateful to her for showing me the way into this dream world. Because unlike her, I soon realized that you can do more here than play games.”
“So what can you do instead? Rule the world or something?” inquired Henry. “I’m not trying to probe your mind too far, but you still have a lot to learn if that’s what you want.”
“Where’s Anabel? And what does she have to do with you?” asked Arthur.
Senator Tod made a throwaway gesture. “The poor child thought that maybe she could get out of the hospital by manipulating me in dreams. But I’m afraid her plan didn’t work—I don’t let anyone manipulate me. However, I must say that I find the possibilities of this place fascinating. Just for a moment I thought I had lost my own mind.…”
“How about Anabel?” I asked. My heart was still racing, but I’d stopped looking at Henry. It seemed a better idea to concentrate on Senator Tod.
“Anabel … yes. I’d have shown myself very appreciative, but unfortunately the girl didn’t want to cooperate. And I could really have done with her help—all this is still entirely new to me. But characters like Anabel don’t appreciate it when their plans don’t work. You young people will know that better than anyone.” He laughed again. He was regaining his self-confidence with every passing second. Oddly enough, he no longer seemed to me quite so ridiculous, but very dangerous instead. “And because I’m afraid she didn’t want to play by my rules, I had to … Well, let’s just say she’s taking a little rest.”
I was coming out in goose bumps all over now.
“With young women patients of her sort, one always has to go carefully—highly intelligent, an influential father, I didn’t want to take any risks,” Senator Tod went on calmly. He seemed to relish our shocked silence. “But luckily, as the psychiatrist treating her case, I had all sorts of ways and means at my disposal.”