“That is a frightening thought.”
“It is, isn’t it? So maybe you can understand, then, why it’s so important to me that we turn this ship around before it turns into the Titanic! What, exactly, do I have to do to get these kids to perform?”
“You have to tell them the truth. Do you really think I have been making this up? That I have been placing imaginary obstacles in your way? I want this project to be successful at least as badly as you do.”
“I doubt that very much.”
“Do you? Then you know nothing about me at all. This is a mission for you—just one mission of many over a long career—but for me, it is my life’s work. And my mother’s before me, and her father’s before him, extending back more generations than your own precious nation can count. Far more. So do not doubt my commitment. When I tell you that the unconscious mind is powerful, that it knows when it is being lied to, and that it will not cooperate in this work against its will, I am telling you the truth. We will not get what we want until we tell them what they are doing here.”
“And I’ve told you we can’t compromise the security of the project!”
“I am not asking you to tell them the details of what they are up against. We do not need to frighten them. But we must at least tell them what they are trying to accomplish. Otherwise, all our efforts here will be wasted. And you can tell your superiors that the expert they hired had the solution and you chose to ignore him.”
“Don’t you dare threaten me—”
“I am not threatening you! I am trying to help you! Why can you not see that?”
“Fine! … Fine. Tell them what they’re trying to do. But once they know, the Hunt kid doesn’t leave.”
“But we told him that if he committed himself to the project—”
“I know what we told him. Things change. If he wants to leave, he leaves now.”
37
Choices
When Rush woke up for breakfast, he still felt mentally drained, as though the half night’s sleep he had managed to get hadn’t done him any good at all. He forced himself to get up and go through the motions of his morning routine, but even turning the shower to cold didn’t manage to shake the dullness out of his brain. It just made his teeth chatter.
By the time he emerged into the suite’s living room, he expected to find Sketch either playing HRT Alpha or watching cartoons, as he had every other morning since they had arrived, but instead, he was still face planted on the couch, sound asleep.
“Hey, Sketch. Come on, man, wake up.” When he didn’t move, Rush finally shook him by the shoulder, only to be rewarded by a series of inarticulate groans.
“Uhhhhh…. gnnnn… lem… sl…”
“Sketch. Sketch, wake up.”
“Sud lumme slup.”
“Sketch.” Rush shook the boy’s shoulder again, harder this time.
“Said, ‘Lemme sleep!’” Sketch protested, grabbing his blanket, hauling it up over his head, and turning his face into the back of the couch.
“I know we didn’t get enough sleep last night, OK? I know you’re tired. But we can’t act like anything’s wrong. You have to get up and look awake, whether you feel like it or not, or else we’re all gonna get in trouble.”
But this was more than just a simple lack of sleep. Rush stayed up late gaming and then got up the next morning for school on a fairly regular basis. It never left him feeling as wiped out as he felt right now. He assumed it had something to do with the summoning the night before, but whatever the reason, they couldn’t afford to let it give them away.
“Good,” Sketch mumbled. “Let ’em ground us so we can go back to bed.”
“That’s not how it works, Sketch,” Rush insisted, chuckling a little despite his own exhaustion. “Come on, man. Get up.”
Sketch finally sat up, rubbing his eyes and looking sorrier than a stray puppy on the side of the road.
“I know,” Rush admitted. “I’m feeling it, too. But we can do it, OK? We just have to get through the morning, and then we can try to grab a nap at lunch.”
“OK,” Sketch agreed. He stumbled off the couch and headed for the bathroom.
Rush walked toward Daniel’s room to make sure he was awake, too, but he was only halfway through the kitchen when he heard Daniel’s alarm go off, followed by a defiant grunt. The alarm stopped, and after a few long moments he heard Daniel start moving around. It didn’t sound like he was moving very quickly, but at least he was making an effort to get up. Rush left him to it and headed downstairs.
When he reached the main lobby, Ammu walked over to him immediately, striding with purpose. Rush made an effort to stand up straight and look alert, greeting the professor with as much of his usual energy as he could muster.
“Morning, Ammu,” Rush said. “Something I can do for you?”
“Walk with me.”
“Sure.” Rush tried to keep his voice light, but this wasn’t good. He really didn’t feel up to a special session of Ammu and the Unconscious Mind at the moment, but he was determined not to let on just how tired he felt.
Ammu led him out the lodge doors and around the side of the building. At first, Rush was nervous that maybe they hadn’t done as good a job of cleaning up as they had thought, imagining that Ammu was going to walk him back to the workshop and ask him what he knew about the chalk lines on the floor or the stray gryphon feather he had found lying in the middle of the empty bay.
But instead, Ammu stopped in the gardens and led Rush to a simple, stone bench, sitting down amidst the flowers and inviting Rush to sit with him so they could talk. Rush managed to stifle a sigh of relief and sat gratefully next to the older man, doing his best to look alert and interested, rather than exhausted and guilty.
“I am afraid I find myself in an unfortunate position,” Ammu began. “I must present you with a choice I did not think you would have to make. Please understand, this is not what I intended. I did not know…” Ammu trailed off and fell silent. Rush had never seen the man at a loss for words, and a spike of fear finally managed to clear a bit of the mental fog away.
“You must choose, unfortunately,” Ammu said, apparently deciding not to finish his previous thought, “whether you would prefer to stay here all summer, by which I mean not going to your gaming competition but rather staying here to complete the program, or to leave now, in which case you would have ample time to prepare for your competition, but you would not be allowed to return.”
“Wait… what?” Rush said, trying to wrap his tired mind around Ammu’s words. “But you said I could go!”
“I know, and for this, I must truly apologize.” Ammu’s voice was deeply sorrowful, but he continued nonetheless. “It is out of my control. I have some influence over this program and its curriculum, to be sure, but in this case I have no say in the matter.”