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which hundreds of "tall, strangely dressed" individuals had passed in just the
last two weeks. The building was now surrounded by
National Guard troops, but (Michael whooped and shook his head) that did not
stop individuals from flying off the roof, some riding gray horses and others
without apparent aid, vanishing into the sky.
The Sidhe were returning to find Earth a hornet's nest. How many had died,
both Sidhe and humans, so far?
There was an enormous amount of work to do. First, he had to meet with his
parents.
And then Kristine. He had no idea how to find her. He wanted to pound the
walls with frustration; his fingers gripped the pages of yesterday's
Times until the paper curled up as if in pain.
When would Tarax send his daughter or could he believe anything from Tarax's
lips? Michael had found his way back that part of the bargain had been
carried through. But anything else& "I am so
God damned IGNORANT!" Michael yelled, throwing the papers from the couch. He
walked stiffly into the kitchen, face red with frustration, and tried to comb
his hair back in place with his fingers as he punched out the number of his
parents' phone.
Ruth stared off across the living room, eyes focused on something far beyond
the opposite wall. John regarded his son directly, his face almost slack, eyes
tracking with little jerks.
"Everything that's happened here since you left, it's been more than a
nightmare for me," she said. John leaned forward and took her hand. "The world
is real," she continued. "These things don't happen. But they did, and now
they do again."
Look to your ancestr't
Michael sat stiff as a wooden dowel »n the familiar chair, in the familiar
living room. His father's maple, oak and rosewood furniture surrounded them,
and from the TV and stereo stand, the VCR clock blinked on and off, in bright
turquoise numerals, 72:00, 72:00, 72:00. It had not been reset since the last
power outage.
"She's never told any of us," John said softly. "I tried to get it out of her
over the years."
"Now, I'm going to tell," she said. "Look at your hair, Michael."
"That's rather hard to do," John said, smiling. "You'd have an easier time of
it, sweet one."
Ruth tapped his extended hand with her fingers but did not grasp it. "It's the
color of my great-
grandmother's hair& " She sighed. "In West Virginia, back when it was still old
Virginia, before the Civil
War, my great-grandfather took a Hill wife. That's what he called her. In the
family Bible, her name is
Underhill. Salafrance Underhill."
Michael had read the names and always thought that one strange and beautiful,
but he had never been told anything about his relatives so far back.
"She was a tall woman. Some said she was a witch. My grandfather always said
she died, but my grandmother said she just went away, around the turn of the
century. Great grandfather never married again. And my grandfather, before he
caught sick and died, asked that my parents keep my hair cut short always, and
when I was grown, marry me off right away, because 'In our family a woman is a
curse.'
That's what he said And my father always obeyed his father without question. I
would dream things at night, and in the middle of the night, Father and Mother
would come into my room, and Father would tell me what I dreamed was bad he
knew what I was dreaming and he would beat me."
Her face had gone soft and her eyes large. She looked as if she were crying,
but no tears came.
"I would dream of forests, and of Salafrance Underhill living in the Virginia
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woods, deep back where the great maples and oaks could sing their own songs
when the wind blew through them. And her eyes were the color of old silver
dollars. That's what I would dream of, and when I dreamed, I knew she was
still alive& but not on Earth. She had gone back with her people. She had left
my great-grandfather with two
file:///F|/rah/Greg%20Bear/Bear,%20Greg%20-...0Power%2002%20-%20The%20Serpent%
20Mage.html (96 of 208) [5/21/03 12:44:32 AM]
Bear, Greg - Songs of Earth and Power Vol. 2 - The Serpent Mage babies to care
for, one a girl that died young. I think he killed her. And one a boy. My
grandfather. And they beat the dreams out of him early."
John patted the chair arm rhythmically with one hand.
"So from what you say," Ruth went on, "my great-grandmother must have been a
Sidhe, and that makes you and me Breeds."
"Lord," John said hoarsely. He cleared his throat. "This is a day, isn't it?"
"I left Virginia when I was fifteen and went to work in Ohio. I met your
father in 1965, and it took me three years after we were married to decide to
have a child. Your father pestered me year after year, but I
was afraid, and I couldn't tell him why. I didn't know what I'd do if I had a
girl. What I'd tell her."
"Do you have powers?" John asked, matter-of-factly.
"I've never tried to find out," she said. "Outside of stuff that could get
away with being called intuition.
But Michael& He's always had a way of seeing, a sensibility Even though he was
male, I've feared for him. All his poetry and his thinking. He had something.
So now there's this. Now people might believe about Hill women and fear and
cutting hair short to stop something not right, not Christian. When he went
away& I
felt where he was. and I couldn't tell even you, my husband. I couldn't
believe it myself because so much time had passed, and everything was hazy.
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