Free Beasts and Burdens by Felicia Jedlicka Page A

know.” She took his hand in hers and squeezed it. “I promise. I won’t.”
    “Okay.” He relaxed back on the couch and she slipped her rings on. He checked his watch.
    Cori smiled slipping her diamond ring back on her finger. Belus tipped his head at her. “I missed that one.” She wiggled her ring finger.
    His mouth tipped in amusement. “How about a walk before lunch?”
    “Yes, please,” Cori said ready for an activity outside of her new confinement.
     
     
     
    22
    Cori and Belus stopped at what was formerly the guardhouse. The scattered remnants of the wooden structure were already blending into the surrounding landscaping. “I didn’t even know lightening could do this,” she murmured kicking the upturned soil that now scarred the courtyard.
    Belus looked down at it as well. “Metallic ores…” He trailed off. “Efrat has a good deal more power than I realized.”
    “Does that mean you can’t help him?”
    “No, despite the immensity of it, he still uses his own internal energy to distribute the power. Efrat may be a very key factor in this prison someday. If we can reign in his temper tantrums and get him to focus.”
    Cori nodded in agreement. “He’s just very bitter. His life has been stolen from him.”
    “Yes, I know Cori, but just like you and Ethan did, he needs to embrace this new life.”
    “It’s not the same, Belus.” Cori wasn’t sure why she was defending him, perhaps because he wasn’t there to do it himself. “He didn’t just lose his friends and family and home, he lost himself. I still remember what he was like before all this. He was like Daniel: a loyal friend, flirtatious to a fault.”
    Belus nodded. “Yes, but what you don’t recognize is that Daniel was once like he is now: hostile and petulant. I got through to Daniel. I don’t think I’ll have trouble with Efrat.”
    “What do you mean that Efrat may be a very key factor?”
    Belus nodded to her home in the distance. It was on the southwest edge of the compound looking ominous—if that was possible. “Her.” He started walking again and Cori followed. “We didn’t bring her here, the house entity. She is a schism in time, space, whatever. Technically I don’t think that she is supposed to exist at all.” Belus paused in thought.
    “About two centuries ago she was discovered. Her power at that time was limited. Her manifestations were simply the duplication of small objects. Hikers would fall asleep with one backpack and wake up with two. One tent, turned into two. It was myth more than anything, until one young man, Roland Latham—our founder if you will—got the idea to duplicate diamonds.”
    “Diamonds?” Cori said immediately wondering why she wasn’t covered in them if the house could duplicate them.
    “She duplicated the look of it, but for all intents and purposes it was glass. She didn’t understand what he wanted. He wanted the exact mineral replicate, and to her, looks like a diamond was good enough, and I imagine took up a great deal less energy to make. It was a disappointment, but it was the first step in understanding that she was intelligent, and not just a phantasm miracle.”
    “So, he didn’t get super rich?”
    “No, he did, he just had to do it the long way. He duplicated household goods, and tools. He was an excellent salesman. When he purchased his first automobile, he thought that his production would skyrocket since he could make faster and more frequent trips, but of course the creature was limited on energy. Can’t make a baby without cookies.” Belus nodded to her belly and she instinctively started petting her bulbous front.
    “He didn’t start making real progress until about ten years later. It was during a lightning storm one night that the she duplicated his car…300 times. He woke up in a parking lot.” Belus paused to let her react to that number.
    “That’s why you think Efrat can help us.”
    Belus shrugged not willing to commit to his theory yet.