Acre
He had left her with a semi permanent flow of oxygen, to make sure she would stay unconscious but alive. He had set it up so that if the yeerk escaped, it would fall into a bucket of ice water, some creatures go into hibernation in extreme cold so it would slow the need for kandrona in the slug. If he was lucky, he'd have a live specimen, if he wasn't, well. He'd have a dead slug. He shot off through the sky at his full speed toward Taunton in Wessex. He covered the near 240 kilometers in under three hours, completed his task, and returned before sun up. By the time he crawled into his apartment, he was exhausted. The power he had used to cloak himself as well as travel at such speeds had drained him. He forced himself on though, he couldn't go to sleep just yet. He checked on Rory and evaporated the gag that was keeping her under. While he waited for her to wake up, he checked the bucket. inside there was a large slug. He couldn't tell if it was dead or not, so he added more ice and put it in his small freezer. He sat down and waited. She awoke after about ten minutes.
"Welcome to the land of the living, and possibly the free." He said as she opened her eyes.
"I-I can move."
"Yes, yes you can, please don't panic, the slug is in my icebox."
"So you won't kill it?"
"I was right then, the cold puts them in hibernation." He muttered. "I hope I didn't cause you too much distress or pain. It wasn't my goal, or my choice."
"I noticed, you should get that nose looked at. But won't he get mad when he comes back?" She looked around, scared that the thought might bring him back.
"He's gone for now. He's not a big fan of the day time. In either case, he has the slug, and I'll be the one to take the flak for it. He won't kill me. Only one in several billion can allow him to have direct access without destroying their bodies. They come along when problems need solving. I'm just the next in line."
"But, there aren't even that many people around. When does he do it?" He lasts through time, he's almost a god. You have to remember that. Though he had a start I think. I'm pretty sure that he was Myrddin, or Merlin. From King Arthur and all that."
"But that's just a legend." She said.
"Apparently not. So I guess I'm his new protege, I'm the next Merlin, or the next Arthur. I dunno. He's used a bunch of other people, most weren't as noble as me. Rasputin for one, though it seems a little soon for a new one. In either case, each person he becomes changes him. Right now he's a real pain, but my code is hopefully bringing him back. Hopefully to as nice as he is in the legends of Arthur."
"So you're taking up a code to change him?"
"No, this was always my code. I tried not to lie to you, but you were-"
"I was one of them. I understand. But you've saved me, and I owe you more than I can pay."
"I don't do this for pay, another part of my code. In either case, I don't know what to do now. I need rest, but I can't have you here. I also can't have you seen outside. I need to have you stay with somebody." He picked up a piece of paper and wrote down a few directions. "These are directions to a friend of mine. No, she's at school or the hospital, that won't work." He tossed the paper aside and wrote out new directions. "I lied to you about the school. Forgive me, but it might be the safest place. They'll know you're there but ask for Jane Bridge the headmistress. Tell her I sent you and show her this. I figure she knows it by now." He pulled out a feather. "I'm going to make you invisible but it won't last more than 15 minutes. If you run fast, you can make it, take the slug too. It'll help." He slumped over on the couch.
"What about you?" Rory asked hesitantly.
"If this doesn't kill me, I'm going to pass out for a few hours, maybe days if I d overestimate myself. It's happened before, so please forget about me. Tell everyone that if I'm not back in a week, I'm dead. They can look for my body. But I'll be ok."
"You saved me, I can't leave you here to die."
"You won't, he'll deal with me. You have to promise to wait a week. Promise it."
"Fine, but let me help you."
"I don't see how you can." Acre muttered, he slowly laid down.
"I know some basic medicine. I wanted to be a nurse before it all went bad." She helped him elevate his head. "If you aren't careful, the nose will kill you. Forget about Merlin."
"I never said his name was-" He yelped in pain as she straightened his nose back into place. "****, what the hell. That was blo*** awful. Why'd you go and do that?"
"To fix your nose. You don't want a bent nose forever. Now do what you're going to do, and I'll be off." Acre cursed and used the last bit of power he had to make her for the most part, invisible. Then he passed out.
Rory
She shut the door and took off at a dead run. After the training she had done she was faster than most. Following the instructions and avoiding people who might recognize her, she was able to make it to the campus in 12 minutes. Which was good. Because Acre's power had gone out at nine. She ran through the gates. The school day had started so the grounds were mostly empty. She decided to try the front door. She hadn't heard of this school before, but she didn't get out too much. Entering through the front doors, she realized she had no idea who to ask for help, or where to find the Headmistress of the school. So she began to follow class numbers. Hopefully, she'd see the plaque or a map soon enough.
