Tortoise Reform by Piers Anthony

Author:Piers Anthony
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Fantasy, General, Contemporary, Fiction
ISBN: 9781594263798
Publisher: Mundania Press
Published: 2007-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Prisoner

Owl was as nervous as the other burrow mates. The Police had captured them, and only desperate avoidance broadcasting had stopped the humans from taking and opening Rowan's bags and discovering the animals. But that merely postponed the danger; all of them remained captive, and it was not clear how they would escape.

The Police car arrived at Rowan's house. Uncle and Aunt came out to meet them; they would have been called, Rowan's mind thought. These inordinately smart humans had ways of contacting each other at a distance that rivaled telepathy. The car stopped, the policemen got out, and one of them came around to open the door nearest to Rowan. She scrambled out, hauling the bags with her.

Aunt turned to face her, from the other side of the car. “Go to your room,” her terse thought came. “We will attend to you in a moment."

Rowan walked to the house. Her mind said that it was best not to show any resistance at this time, lest the situation worsen yet more. Then, when Uncle and Aunt were talking with the Policemen, she paused by a bush before the door. She set down the two bags so that the bush concealed them from the other humans, and opened them. “Go!” she thought urgently. “Get out of here. Go through the portal and don't come back. They'll never know you were here, and you'll be safe.” But behind her thought there was sheer misery, for she believed she would never see them again.

"I can't do that,” Cottontail thought.

"Oh that's right, you can't walk. I'm so sorry. I'll have to keep you with me. I'll tell them I found you injured, and they won't know your nature.” She reached into the bag to lift Cottontail out.

Meanwhile the other animals got out of sight under the bushes. Peba, Indigo, and Owl were gone immediately; Gopher was of course slower, but had no trouble finding concealment. Owl found a perch under a thick shrub and remained put, so he could focus on the minds of the others.

Rowan picked up the empty bags, letting Cottontail cling to her shoulder. She went into the house.

Now the five burrow mates held a conference. “We will not leave you here,” Gopher thought to Cottontail, for all of them. “We will rescue you."

"You must rescue Rowan also,” Cottontail thought. “So she can carry me to the portal."

"We will try."

But Owl knew that he was not the only one who feared that was not possible. These smart humans were dangerous.

Soon the group by the Police car ended its discussion, and Uncle and Aunt returned to the house. They locked Rowan in her room, not even inquiring how she was. They were angry; that emotion came through their closed minds. The Police car drove away, but the anger remained. This boded no good for Rowan.

Gopher remained close to the house, circling it so as to get close to Rowan's room. The other burrow mates went the other way, getting closer to the adult humans.

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