Free The Fury and the Terror by John Farris

groaning. Her stomach muscles hurt, but the tight band that seemed to be cinched around hear head eased its grip.
    When she opened her eyes she saw the doppelganger standing over her, vibrations frizzy and awry; she was cobwebbed like a bad TV picture.
    "You can see what's happening to me," the dpg said in a hollowed voice. "Kelane is about gone. I'm being sucked back into her ethereal vortex. In case you're curious, it doesn't hurt. On the other hand, it's not all that pleasant."
    "Oh, God. What do you want from me?"
    "There are things you need to know. First, trust your powers, and they will expand through your trust. Second, there is no limit to the good in this world, but the good must be nurtured. Third, there is no limit to the evil that finds its way to this world, and you must dedicate yourself and your powers to the containment of evil. How do you do that? There are no guidelines, as such. But you're a bright girl. You'll pick it up as you go along."
    "You sound like one of those superheroes comic books I used to read." Kelane Cheng's dpg began to waver in the air, as if her image was projected onto a sheer window curtain. She trembled in the breeze riffling through the boughs of the nearby oaks, a lonely little phantom with eyes of black pearl. Her voice grew fainter.
    "Don't be snide. Remember this: the Malterrans will know about you now. There are more of them to deal with these days, because the old gods have lost their pep and now Mordaunt is acting up again. But you know about that."
    "I—what? Who is Mordaunt ?"
    "I don't have time to educate you. Should have been taken care of during your Dreamtime."
    "Malterrans? Do you mean the 'Bad Souls'?"
    "Yes. Unfortunately you won't always know them when you see them. Some of them are loaded with charm. The good news is you'll have some protection."
    "What kind of protection?"
    "The loving attention of your real mother."
    "My mother ?! Where is she, can I see—"
    "No. Your mother was murdered on the earthly plane, almost a year ago today. She was the Avatar, before Kelane became the Avatar. So you might say you have a double helping of—oh-oh. Sorry. That's it. Kelane and I are finished here. Been good to know you, Eden."
    "Wait!"
    There was a bright burst of light like a spark from a live wire, accompanied by a faint far-gone humming sound. Then nothing, except for the breeze that conveyed the scent of floral tributes placed randomly across the hillside. Something narcotic in their sweetness. Eden's head felt heavy. She crawled through the grass to a space between the roots of one of the great old oaks and lay down there in dreamy exhaustion to grab the nap she urgently required.
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    "I think what we have to do now is get Eden out of town. Quietly slip away. While the confusion lasts, and they're all still sorting out what happened."
    "Putting two and two together," Riley said, tight-lipped. His back was hurting bad.
    "Exactly," Betts said, prowling the rec room downstairs in their home, smoking, her eyes bright with urgency. "We'll lie low, wait for instructions."
    "Nothing may come of it, though. For all anyone knows, Eden simply went a little haywire. Case of nerves."
    Betts laughed unhappily, and lit another Merit from the one she'd been smoking. Riley cleared his throat in disapproval and tried to make himself comfortable in the rocking chair. He'd given himself a shot of Flexeril, but he was sure he'd slipped a disk this time.
    The phone rang again upstairs. The answering machine cut in immediately. But the tape had to be nearly full. Betts didn't need to listen to any of the messages to know what the calls were about.
    "Six thousand people heard her say an airliner was going to crash into the stadium. She was warning us to get out before anyone even saw the damn plane. No way to pass it off as mass hysteria. I wouldn't care to try." Betts gestured at the big-screen TV. The sound was off. "She's been all over CNN for the last two hours." She