Stories by
Danielle
Sam had finally hacked into the lab computers, and the information there astounded her. The rogue group had discovered a preserved symbiote and used it to create a human/Goa’uld hybrid by splicing the human ovum with DNA taken from the symbiote. She understood their purpose before Barrett did and explained to him how the Goa’uld passed on genetic knowledge. Keffler and the other scientists had made Anna in hopes that she would learn how to access the genetic knowledge buried in her DNA and tell them everything the Goa’uld knew. The sickening part, though, was what they had done to encourage that development. Sensory deprivation, electrocution, torture… If they had done that to Anna, what had they done to Daniel? Sam wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or disappointed when she couldn’t find anything about Daniel in the lab computers.
Then Teal’c discovered a bomb, already activated and ticking off their sixteen-hour deadline. Jonas had run into a roadblock with Anna. Barrett suggested another try at interrogating Keffler, and Sam found herself missing Colonel O’Neill again when Barrett’s attempts to bully information out of Keffler fell flat. Keffler didn’t ruffle easily, and his slight smile and enigmatic answers were only infuriating Barrett. She shared Barrett’s annoyance, but she’d learned enough about Goa’uld-baiting from Daniel and the colonel to know that it didn’t help to reveal that frustration to the enemy.
“Do you know how to deactivate the bomb?” she asked Keffler, hoping her own calm would penetrate to Barrett.
Keffler lit a cigarette. “I didn’t know it was a bomb.”
Barrett sneered. “So this girl breaks out of her cell, kills thirty-two people, sets a bomb to go off a day from now, and then sticks around. How does that make sense?”
Keffler gave Barrett an oddly paternal look, as if he were indulging a child’s misbehavior. “Your problem, Agent Barrett—one among many, I must point out—is that you see her as a girl.”
Bile rose as Sam imagined Daniel in this man’s hands. Had Daniel just been another one of his experiments? A means to an end? She swallowed hard.
“Look,” she said, some of her indignation leaking through her voice despite her efforts to remain calm, “if you’re going to try and give us some moral justifications for what’s gone on here--”
“Please, Major,” he interrupted as he turned that indulgent look on her, “I know you’ve helped orchestrate the deaths of Goa’uld before—assassinated them in cold blood, in fact—without regard for the life of the human host.”
She clenched her fists. God, the man was a creep! “I didn’t create the problem.”
“Neither did I. I am merely trying to help solve it. The Goa’uld are a terrible threat to us all. Anna is a device, a conduit to the knowledge that could level the playing field, and I think we all agree that if killing one person could save millions, billions of innocent lives,” his voice dropped to a low, intense whisper, “you would have no choice. You would do it.”
Barrett looked skyward in exasperation and demanded, “Answer my question.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve forgotten what it was.” Keffler offered one of his smarmy smiles and lifted the cigarette to his lips.
“Why set the bomb and stick around?”
“Anna did not set that bomb.” Keffler’s smug expression clearly spoke for him. I know something you don’t know.
“Then who did?”
Keffler leaned forward, as if imparting a great secret. “The Goa’uld. Sekhmet.”
Bewildered by Keffler’s answer, Barrett turned to Sam. “Now, wait a minute. She doesn’t have a snake inside of her, right?”
“Something we didn’t expect,” Keffler said. “Separate and distinct personalities.”
Sam stared. “Are you saying that Anna’s mind has created an entirely separate personality that acts like the Goa’uld Sekhmet?”
“Yes. But I don’t know if it’s because she is incapable of dealing with the darkness within her or if the knowledge is so powerful that it’s capable of manifesting itself as such. I only know that it emerges and speaks as a unique entity. We have witnessed it with a growing frequency. Anna has no awareness. To her, it’s as if she has blacked out.”
Barrett lifted an eyebrow. “Okay, so the Goa’uld personality comes out, goes on a rampage, sets a bomb…”
“But can’t stay in control of the body long enough to finish what she was doing,” Sam finished.
“Her breakthroughs are sporadic and seem somewhat uncontrolled,” Keffler admitted.
Barrett still looked confused. “But why set the bomb?”
“Leverage,” Sam said as the realization of the Anna/Sekhmet/Keffler dynamic suddenly struck her. She glanced toward Keffler. He was watching her with a knowing smile as if he were following her thoughts.
“Against what?” Barrett asked.
Sam continued to watch Keffler. “Sekhmet only has conscious control of the body for short periods of time. She wants more. She was going to blackmail you with the bomb.”
As she spoke, Keffler’s smile grew wider, showing pride in a favored pupil. Sam shivered. Keffler laughed.
“Ah, the psyche is so simple, isn’t it? So single-minded. It’s truly fascinating to behold.”
Sam studied the scientist for a moment, letting the facts solidify in her mind and guide her to more conclusions. “She thinks you can give her that full control.”
Keffler shrugged.
“Can you?” Barrett pressed.
“She’s the experiment.” Keffler cupped his chin in his palm and looked moments away from yawning in boredom. “I’m only the observer.”
Sam narrowed her eyes and considered him suspiciously. “The Goa’uld personality didn’t go do something like this on a whim. You led her to believe that you have the power to give her control of her life. And I’ll bet you did it so she would tell you what you want to know.”
“How to save us all, Major,” Keffler said in a quiet voice, humoring her with gentle tolerance. “I’m not the only one who wants to know. About this and…other things.”
She caught her breath. “Daniel?”
The smarmy smile returned. “Such an intriguing brain our little Ancient has. Especially when he’s properly…motivated.”
Sam snarled, and only Barrett’s grip on her elbow kept her from launching herself at Keffler. She yanked herself out of Barrett’s restraining hold and stalked out of the room before she did something she’d regret. They still needed Keffler.
Keffler’s soft, mocking laugh followed her.
#
Sekhmet did not understand the symbiosis that existed between her and the host. She knew that many centuries had passed since she last walked upon the Tau’ri world, but she did not remember the intervening years or how she had come to inhabit this girl. She did not remember choosing this body.
Sekhmet had been great once, the instrument of Ra’s wrath. When Ra wished to punish the human slaves for their failure to follow his wishes, he called upon Sekhmet. She loved the devastation that followed in her wake. Each time she carried out Ra’s judgment, the stories about her grew.
She was the Mistress of Dread, the Lady of Slaughter, and the One Before Whom Evil Trembles. She was the rampaging lion who relished the blood of her victims. Her breath was the hot desert wind. Her body glared brighter than the sun. She pierced Ra’s enemies with arrows of fire. She was Sekhmet, goddess of war and destruction.
Now she was the prisoner of a weak human. She had no control over this host. When the girl was scared or her body hurting, she unconsciously gave Sekhmet permission to emerge and then retreated, leaving Sekhmet to deal with whatever situation had been too much for the girl to handle. The retreat was so complete that Sekhmet could not touch her host’s mind at all during those times.
The massacre had changed that. The feel of the gun in her hand, the sight of the mayhem she had caused, the delicious scent of blood... all these things had strengthened Sekhmet to the point where she could know the thoughts of her host. She could influence and manipulate. And soon…very soon…she would have control.
#
A few hours into the morning, Daniel seemed much more relaxed. With Jack’s help, he had managed to head off most of the upsetting time-jumps and replaced them with happier instances. To Janet’s relief, he finally had declared himself “starving” and eaten breakfast with the enthusiasm typical of many six-year-old boys. He had turned down her offer of an isolation room so he could practice his control in the populated infirmary. He didn’t want to talk about his kidnapping yet, but Jack was beginning to hope that Daniel’s recovery wasn’t going to be as complicated as Jack had initially feared.
After all, anybody who was angling for coffee couldn’t be too traumatized.
“It’s a special occasion,” Daniel wheedled. “Sam keeps the really good blend in her lab. We could ask Walter to bring me some. He likes me, and he’s good at making coffee. Please, Jack?”
Jack shook his head. “You know that even if I agree, Doc’s just gonna shoot the idea down, don’t you?”
“You can outrank her.”
“In the infirmary? Not on your life, pal. Do I look like I have a death wish?”
Daniel’s gaze turned inward, an action Jack was beginning to recognize as a precursor to a possible time-jump. “You brought me coffee for one week straight after we visited the SooSan.”
“One, you weren’t on Janet’s restricted list. Two, I was apologizing.”
“Because you tripped me and made me sprain my ankle!”
“You were hopping around like a loon on happy pills. You should have been grateful I spared you all that embarrassment.”
“It was the ritual greeting. I was supposed to dance like that.” Daniel smiled brightly. “I was grateful for the coffee though.”
“Nice try. Answer’s still no.”
Daniel slumped back with his arms crossed over his chest and a pout that just made Jack grin in response. God, he’d missed this. Sharing memories. Remembering happy times. So often since Daniel’s descension, Jack would mention some past event, only to have Daniel look at him blankly because the Others had left a hole where there should have been a memory. Jack had learned to accept it. Daniel was back. He was safe and alive and happy. So what if he didn’t remember the moments he had shared with his team? But Jack admitted to himself that he had missed being able to reminisce and banter with Daniel about their past history.
Now it seemed he had his wish. Daniel couldn’t remember, but he could revisit. Jack just hoped they weren’t going to regret this new little trick of Daniel’s.
The kid’s mock-pout faded into a serious expression. “Jack, I think I should get dressed now.”
Forehead furrowed in concentration, Daniel stared down at his lap. A few seconds later, a pile of clothing appeared out of thin air and dropped right where Daniel was staring. Jack recognized the stack as the spare set he’d placed in Daniel’s locker for emergencies.
“Why bother?” Jack asked with a shrug. “I’ll bet you an ice cream cone that Doc’s not letting you out of here until tomorrow. And that’s if you’re lucky and I swear to her on Siler’s sacred wrench that I’ll take you home and sit on you if you don’t follow the usual rules for getting well, which will probably include no coffee.”
“I’m not sick, Jack, and I have to stop the bomb because Jonas can’t.”
Jack’s stomach lurched. For Daniel, the deaths of his parents may have been the one nightmare he tended to revisit, but the memory that haunted Jack was Daniel’s exposure to lethal radiation. Remembering how helpless he had felt during Daniel’s slow, inevitable decline into death, Jack fought to keep the nausea from showing on his face.
“Daniel, you stopped the bomb already. Jonas’s planet is safe.”
Daniel shook his head. “Not that bomb. Anna’s bomb. I have to talk to Anna.”
“I don’t know any Anna.”
“Sam will tell you. She’s on the phone,” Daniel said as Janet approached them.
“Colonel, there’s a call for you in my office,” Janet said.
“Any chance it’s Carter?”
Janet lifted an eyebrow in surprise and nodded. Daniel smirked. “Told you so.”
The report from Carter didn’t make Jack a happy camper. They had several rogue NID whose membership was up, an uncooperative scientist—Jack lifted his eyebrow at Carter’s repeated use of the word “smarmy” growled through gritted teeth—a girl with a human/Goa’uld schizophrenic personality complex, and a bomb that Teal’c and Dr. Lee’s combined efforts were failing to disarm. In short, they needed Daniel. Well, wasn’t that a surprise? Jack sighed and promised to bring the kid as soon as possible.
He returned to Daniel’s bed and came to a halt at the sight. Daniel was so close to the edge, he looked as if a gentle push would knock him off. His knees were hidden beneath a bunched-up sheet, and he was hugging them to his chest. Wild eyes watched Janet. She stood nearby, part of her attention on Daniel and the rest on a whispered conference with one of her nurses. Jack angled himself to join her.
“What happened?” he asked quietly.
“I’m not sure,” Janet admitted, her voice also pitched low. “I think he might be remembering a past event, but he won’t talk to me. I’d like to give the dopamine inhibitor a try. I want to see Daniel stay calm for longer periods than he seems to be managing on his own.”
Jack nodded reluctantly. He didn’t care for the idea of more drugs, but he understood Janet’s concerns. Daniel’s adrenaline spiked during each of the time-hop things, and Jack could see how it was draining him.
Jack settled on the corner opposite the kid. “Daniel?”
Daniel turned his face in Jack’s direction, but he was still watching Janet with a sideways look. “Jack. Jack, it’s the Linvirus. Tell Janet. Don’t let her send me away. Don’t let them put drugs in me. I can’t think like that.”
Jack’s heart did its usual wrench when reminded of Daniel’s stint in a padded room. He forced his body language to remain relaxed.
“That was years ago, Daniel. It’s not happening now. Now you’re six and--”
Daniel’s expression changed subtly. Chagrin replaced the panic as he looked fully at Jack. “I went into the tomb and shouldn’t have. Is Daddy real mad? Is that why he isn’t here? Where is he?”
Jack went on in a steady voice, “You came back here after being ascended, and now you’re trying to control this ability of yours.”
Daniel’s focus turned inward. After a moment, he sucked in a breath. His fingers curled around the sheet and kneaded it. Tears gathered beneath his lashes.
“Daniel? Hey, you with me, buddy?”
With a tiny cry, Daniel scrambled out of the sheet and into Jack’s arms. Tears were streaming down the kid’s cheeks. His fingers switched to twisting Jack’s sleeve. It didn’t take long for the upper portion of Jack’s shirt where Daniel’s face was pressed to become drenched.
“It’s too hard,” Daniel said between sobs. “I can’t do it. I keep going other places. I don’t want to, but I can’t stop. Jack, help me stop. Please, make me stay here. I don’t like this!”
Jack rubbed his hand over the kid’s back. “I know. I don’t like it either. Doc’s gonna give you something to help. How’s that sound?”
Daniel nodded against Jack’s shoulder and turned his head to watch Janet approach with a syringe. He trembled as she administered the drug, and Jack tightened his arms around the kid in response.
“So, Doc, this happy juice is going to work, right?”
“I can’t make any promises, Colonel. As you know, Daniel’s situation is unique. Ideally, the dopamine inhibitor we’ve designed should affect the neurotransmitters and slow down synaptic activity in Daniel’s brain, making it more difficult for him to access his ascended capabilities.”
Daniel’s eyes widened. “I can’t do anything?”
Jack snorted. They should be so lucky.
“We aren’t stopping things altogether, Daniel,” Janet assured him. “The knowledge is still there. At most, we’re causing a delay. Since it should require more effort on your part before anything happens, you’ll be able to recognize it and forestall whatever you’d prefer to avoid, such as the time-jumps.”
Daniel relaxed and swiped at his damp cheeks. Jack cautiously pulled away, and when the kid allowed the movement without freaking, he lifted Daniel off his lap and placed him on the bed. Then he retrieved the clothes that had fallen to the floor during Daniel’s panic attack.
“Here you go. Get dressed.”
“Am I going to talk to Anna?” Daniel asked, reaching eagerly for his shirt.
“Looks like it.”
“Colonel?” Janet’s glare was all ice.
Jack shrugged and hoped she could tell that he wasn’t any happier about this than she was. “Sorry, Doc. Duty calls. Daniel made a friend while he was…away. Apparently she won’t talk to anyone but him.”
“He needs to stay here for observation. There’s a chance of seizures.”
“There’s a chance our fair city is about to blow up too.”
“It will blow up,” Daniel said, his head popping through the hole of his shirt. “I have to be there to stop Anna’s bomb. I saw it!”
Jack lifted his hands ruefully. “What’s a guy to do?”
#
The voice inside Anna’s head whispered insidiously. Lies. Everything they tell you. It is all lies. The dark voice reminded her of the frightening images of her dreams, but there was something attractive about it too. She liked the way it made her feel. When she listened to the voice, she was cherished. Confident. Strong.
Then Daniel came to give the voice its name, Sekhmet. He told her that Sekhmet lived within her. When she blacked out, her body and her mind became Sekhmet, and it had killed. She had killed. Because of Sekhmet.
You set us free. To take your pain. To protect you. To save you. It is what you wanted.
“I don’t remember anything,” Anna said. So many blackouts. She wasn’t sure who she was anymore.
You are important. You are better than all of them. They should treat you like royalty.
“I know this must be hard for you,” Daniel answered. He stood right next to her house, his hand pressed against its wall. He had wanted to join her inside, but his guardian, his Jack, had refused that plea. So Jack stood to one side, watching her warily, and Daniel came as close as he could. He was so small. She towered over him.
As you should. Always. It is our right.
Trying to ignore the voice, Anna sank to the floor and imitated the placement of Daniel’s hand. If the glass had been gone, their fingers would have touched. She was still taller, but he didn’t have to crane his neck as far to meet her gaze. He smiled at her.
“How can you know?” Anna whispered, but she wanted to scream in frustration. “How can you know what this is like for me?”
He knew some of it. He had spent time in Doctor Keffler’s lab. She noticed how carefully Daniel didn’t look at the second house and how pale his skin still was.
They deserved to die.
“I know a boy like you,” Daniel said.
Anna sat straighter, flooded by hope. “There are more like me?”
You are better than all of them.
“Not exactly like you. Shifu’s parents were both Goa’uld hosts, so he had all the genetic knowledge of the Goa’uld. All the memories. Just like you have Sekhmet’s.”
All for you. Strength. Power. Glory. Whatever you desire.
“What happened to him?”
“A powerful being saved him. He ascended to a higher plane of existence, and when he did, he learned how to block the memories. He gave me a dream once to show me what a terrible burden it is.” Daniel’s gaze turned inward. He suddenly seemed older. “I have all the knowledge, and it’s good because I can protect everyone. But it’s too strong. It makes me think I’m better. Better than all of them.”
Anna shivered as she heard the echo of Sekhmet’s voice.
“They give me a big house and do everything I say. I send Teal’c somewhere else. I put Sam in jail. Jack tries to shoot me because I…I…” He stuttered to a stop, blinked, and looked around. Confusion and dismay clouded his face in equal measure. “Jack! Jack!”
In an instant, Jack sprinted forward and dropped to one knee at Daniel’s side. He cupped Daniel’s shoulder.
“I’m right here, Danny. What is it?”
He looked with terrified eyes at Jack. “I blew up
“No, you didn’t. It didn’t happen. That was a dream. A long-time-ago dream. From Shifu, remember?”
“Shifu! He’s on Kheb. We have to find him before Apophis does!”
Jack muttered a “crap!” under his breath and then reached for Daniel’s chin. “Listen to me, Daniel. That’s the past, okay? We’re not there anymore. Right now we’re talking to Anna. We’re stopping the bomb. Stay here with me, Daniel.”
Daniel drew in a couple of deep breaths, his expression clearing. “Anna. Bomb. Right.”
“You here again?”
Daniel nodded. “Yeah. Sorry.”
“What’s wrong?” Anna asked
Jack slanted a glance in her direction. “He’s still having trouble because of the drugs Keffler gave him.”
We should rip the beating heart from his chest and feed it to him.
Daniel pressed his hand tighter against the glass as if to reassure her, but his gaze was focused on Jack. “I’m fine. Janet’s stuff is helping. I just wasn’t paying attention.”
They looked at each other, communicating silently. After a few moments, Jack nodded, rose, and returned to his post several feet away, watching but not interfering. Anna tried to pretend he wasn’t there. His vigilance was unnerving.
Daniel turned his attention back to her. He smiled shakily. “We should get that bomb stopped.”
“I don’t know how. I don’t remember turning it on.”
All for you. It is what you wanted. Your freedom is our gift.
“The answer is somewhere inside your mind,” Daniel said. “I can help you find it.”
“How?”
“Remember when we were talking about birthdays, and I couldn’t tell you how many I’d had? That was because I lost a lot of my memories awhile ago.”
She started to ask how it had happened, but before the words were formed, he brushed off her interest with a dismissive wave of his hand. The casual action couldn’t hide the haunted look in his eyes, however. She recalled how disorientating it was to wake from her blackouts with a missing block of time and thought how much worse it must be to lose even more than that.
“It’s a long story,” he said with that forced indifference. “But sometimes I can remember stuff if I meditate. We could try that. If we meditate together, maybe you’ll see the pictures that show how to turn the bomb off.”
She shivered. Meditating sounded a lot like dreaming. “What I see scares me so much.”
“I know,” Daniel said gently, as if she were the child. “I can’t force you to do this, Anna. But it’s the only way to stop the bomb in time.”
She was tired. Tired of not understanding. Tired of being pulled in different directions. Tired of being the weak, frightened girl.
She let her forehead rest against the glass. “Do you think I can be saved? Like the boy?”
“I’m going to help you. I promise. No matter what, you’ll be able to live a normal life.”
Lies. Only we can save you, little one.
Daniel was so earnest. She knew his promise was heartfelt. But he didn’t hear the constant murmur of Sekhmet’s voice, offering promises of her own, while she gave Anna tantalizing glimpses into a world where Anna was worshipped and the blood of her enemies ran in rivers from her hands. It felt…good.
“There is so much evil inside me,” she whispered, acknowledging it.
“Please, Anna. Please trust me.”
You will be strong. You will know you are better than all of them. Feel our power. Taste how sweet it is. Do you not want it?
Anna closed her eyes. She was afraid. She was so afraid.
We will give you all you desire. What have you to fear, little one?
She feared herself. Because she wanted it. She wanted everything Sekhmet had shown her. And she knew, if she accepted it, she would lose herself forever.
“I want to help you, Anna,” Daniel was whispering. “Please let me?”
He didn’t know he was too late.
#
Sam walked into the small security room where Jonas was leaning forward, peering at one of the monitors. “You wanted to see me?”
Jonas looked up with a start. “Sam! Yes. I’ve found something.” He rewound the video. “This isn’t just security video footage. There’s actual documentation of their research on Anna. Here, look at this.”
He started the video. Sam watched Keffler approach Anna’s cage, aiming some sort of handheld remote toward the girl. Anna backed away, her face tight with fear, and when Keffler activated his remote, she doubled over, crying out in pain.
“There is a cure, Anna,” Keffler said. “You can be a normal girl with a normal life. You can be free, or you can continue to suffer.”
Keffler pressed the remote again. Anna curled around her stomach and moaned.
“Please stop!” She whimpered as he brandished the remote in her direction once more. Then, as suddenly as if a switch had been thrown, she straightened and glared at Keffler. “Stop this at once. We command you!”
Sam lifted an eyebrow. Anna’s voice had changed, making the girl seem strong and arrogant. It lacked the Goa’uld overtones, but in every other quality, it was Goa’uld.
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Keffler said, eyeing Anna in much the same way Frankenstein’s creator must have viewed the monster he’d created.
“Let us out of here,” Anna demanded.
“In due time, freedom can be yours.”
Anna—no, it was definitely Sekhmet—sneered. “You think we will just tell you the secrets of the Goa’uld.”
“If you want to live,” Keffler said, waving the remote condescendingly.
“Son of a bitch,” Sam muttered. “He can control when the Goa’uld personality appears. It’s not random.”
Jonas stopped the video and turned a wide-eyed gaze on Sam. She could practically see the wheels turning in his head. Sometimes his leaps of logic reminded her achingly of Daniel. Daniel would take her ideas and open up the tidy boxes where she had stored them. Sam smiled to herself. Now Daniel didn’t even bother opening the boxes. He just made them—and all the applicable science—disappear altogether.
“Maybe Keffler used that device to make the Goa’uld personality surface and then let her out of the cage,” Jonas suggested. Then he frowned, stumped by his own logic. “But why do that? If he could control her, why didn’t he stop her from killing all the other scientists?”
“Because he wanted them dead,” Sam said as she suddenly understood Keffler’s motivation.
Horror crept into Jonas’s expression. “But…thirty-two people? Why would he want that? Do you think someone was going to shut down his research? Report him?”
Sam shook her head. “He had Daniel, and Daniel got away. Keffler knew it was only a matter of time before we showed up. They were witnesses who might have cracked under pressure, so Keffler used the Goa’uld to kill them.”
“That’s…” Jonas paused, unable to settle on an appropriate word.
“Definitely way beyond smarmy.”
“He mentioned a cure. Did you find anything about that in the computers? Are we going to be able to help her?” Jonas asked.
Sam slumped into a chair next to him. “I’ve been through everything. Keffler didn’t isolate the gene that carries the Goa’uld knowledge. The way he blended the DNA, there’s nothing we can do to stop the Goa’uld DNA from eventually taking over. It will physically overwrite the human. I don’t know how to stop it. Based on her current rate of growth, she won’t live longer than three years, and she’ll die a horrible painful death. Keffler wasn’t trying to create a viable, living organism. He just wanted to get the intelligence.”
“There’s no way to save her?”
“He put a capsule of biotoxin at the base of her brain. I’m guessing the remote control activates it as well. He probably intended to kill her whenever her pain grew to the point where he couldn’t get any more information out of her.” Sam pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes and rubbed. “I’m going to check it all again. See if I missed anything.”
“I don’t think you did.”
Jonas’s pensive voice caught her attention. Sam dropped her hands and looked at him. He was staring at the real-time video, where Daniel and Anna were talking. Colonel O’Neill stood off to one side, a silent sentinel to their conversation.
Jonas turned up the volume just as Daniel said, “I’m going to help you. I promise. No matter what, you’ll be able to live a normal life.”
“There is so much evil inside me,” Anna whispered.
Jonas glanced at Sam. “I think, deep down, Anna already knows she can’t be saved. The one who’s not going to believe it is Daniel.”
#
Daniel shifted, getting himself comfortable in the cross-legged position that Teal’c had taught him for meditation. Inside her house, Anna did the same. They focused on the steadily-burning flame of the candle. Jack had protested Daniel’s wish to put the candle inside Anna’s house, but Daniel had applied logic, with a heavy dose of pleading blue eyes and slightly pouty lower lip, until Jack had given in. Daniel didn’t need the candle himself, but he thought it would help Anna.
He was worried about Anna. She seemed so resigned, as if she didn’t really believe the meditation would work. Daniel was pretty sure it would, even if he had to nudge it along.
If he could. He didn’t like Janet’s inhibitor. It made his brain feel all fuzzy. He liked it better when it was “zing-y.” Sometimes he would watch his brain zipping along, making little leaps and bouncing merrily from thought to thought. It tickled, but it was lots of fun to see how smart his brain was. Of course, it was also a weird brain. He knew it did things no one else could do, but he liked that too.
His brain wasn't working so good now. Janet’s drug had put everything into slow motion, which felt really strange, but at least he could catch himself before he wandered off into the past or the future. That was good. He didn’t really like the new thing his brain could do. He wished that one would stop altogether.
Anna was staring at the candle. The flame bobbed and danced, and Daniel could see the image of it reflected in Anna’s eyes. He reached out with his mind and touched Anna. The hypnotic effect of the candle had calmed her. Daniel strengthened the mental connection. It took a few minutes because he had to concentrate around the sluggish speed of his brain.
“What do I do now?” Anna asked, her voice distant and heavy.
“Just relax and think of nothing,” Daniel replied quietly.
He watched her, both with his eyes and with his mind, as she sank deeper into the meditation. Then he closed his own eyes, holding the image of the candle flame inside.
“Try and empty the room,” Daniel guided. “You see a doorway. Open the door, and go through.”
Vaguely, he heard Jonas call out for Jack. Daniel felt resistance along the cord that existed between him and Jack, sensed Jack’s reluctance to leave. Daniel spared a bit of energy to push along the cord and reassure Jack. They were meditating. What trouble could they get into?
Jack’s snort answered that, but a moment later, Daniel heard the receding sound of footsteps.
Daniel let the outside world fade away and allowed himself to reach for the ethereal plane. This part was easy. Too easy, sometimes The realm where he had spent a year as energy was never far away. It was always a temptation to give too much of himself to the universe where he’d once roamed, which was why he had created the cord to Jack. The cord anchored him to the physical.
At his contact, the ethereal plane swept in, obviously not hindered by Janet’s drug. He felt overwhelmed for a moment by the power that belonged to him, even though he wasn’t ascended anymore. But his mind accepted it, made automatic connections, formed boundaries before he even realized he needed them, and brought the onslaught of knowledge under control. Here, at the higher plane, everything was effortless. It was his brain’s natural state.
He checked on Anna’s progress and saw that she was waiting for his instructions.
“You’re inside a stone room,” he intoned, lulling her with his voice. “The floor is made of polished marble. It’s a great pyramid. Ornate carvings of giant snakes flank a beautiful golden throne.”
He brushed over the flow of images in Anna’s thoughts and heard the faint voice of Sekhmet. Mine. All mine. Strength. Power. Glory.
Shielding his mental touch so Sekhmet would remain unaware of his presence, Daniel continued, “You see a window. You walk toward it. Outside there are thousands of people, slaves who worship you as a god.”
Yesss. Bow to us.
Daniel paused to examine the way the Goa’uld was intertwined with Anna, as if Anna were the root and Sekhmet, the vine that grew from it. Even though Anna remained in control, she seemed small and vulnerable compared to Sekhmet. Sekhmet had years of genetic knowledge and a lust for power that would have consumed Anna if she had been a host by conventional means.
But rather than frightening Anna with the bulk of that knowledge, Sekhmet had chosen a different method of influence. She trickled the knowledge into Anna’s mind. She enticed Anna with the power. The outward appearance of that power was so beautiful and special that Anna wasn’t tempted to look beneath to see what it really was.
Dark. Dangerous. Deadly.
It made Daniel think of the Star Wars movies that he loved to watch, when Yoda had told Luke that the path to the dark side was easy, quick, and more seductive.
In a way, it also reminded him of the Ancients. They had evolved to transcend the physical body, and their knowledge and power was even more vast than the knowledge accumulated by generations of Goa’uld. But Daniel sometimes wondered if it was ascension that had made the Others complacent. Had they grown indifferent because the power was so easy and quick at the higher plane?
Storing the thought for later contemplation, Daniel firmed his connection to Anna’s mind and drifted closer. He could see the path of Anna’s life. It stretched backward to the day Keffler had made her and forward to this moment where a candle offered a faint glow of hope. Sekhmet’s path, black and cold to the touch, twisted around Anna’s, growing thick and virulent as it drew nearer to the moment where Daniel stood.
He looked ahead. A light surrounding a point in the future beckoned him. He approached it and saw where the two paths were so tangled that they seemed to be one path. The light, however, marked a divergence. The paths split suddenly. On one side, Anna’s path continued alone, brief but happy in its individuality. On the opposite side, the evil that was Sekhmet had completely submerged Anna, choking the life out of her until there was nothing but darkness. In the center was a third path, faint and almost invisible because it was the least likely to be chosen.
At first, Daniel didn’t understand what he was seeing, but it took only a moment before the knowledge filtered into his mind.
This was a crossroad. Here, at the moment of time where the paths split, where Daniel had been drawn by the brightness of a determining choice, Anna would make a decision that would shape her future.
And Daniel knew her crossroad choice was coming very soon.
#
Daniel’s voice sounded faraway as it guided Anna to the next step of their meditation. “You have great power over your slaves. Power to decide who lives and who dies.”
Inside herself, Anna shivered and quailed away from the image Daniel was presenting. At that moment, Sekhmet surged forward. But this time, Anna didn't black out. She watched in horror as Sekhmet moved her body. She was standing, glaring down at Daniel.
“No!” Sekhmet shouted with Anna’s voice. “We will tell you nothing.”
Daniel's eyes blinked open. He looked confused. “Anna?”
Furious at Sekhmet’s invasion, Anna yanked back the control of her body. A rage she had never known boiled within her. In her mind, she screamed at the Goa'uld, Don't ever do that again! She snatched at the drawings Doctor Keffler had hung around her house and tore them from the glass walls. She knew what they all were now. Each one was an image of evil and destruction and hate.
“Anna, stop!” Daniel cried, jumping to his feet.
She glanced at him, but the rage was still burning. It made her feel powerful. She wanted it to burn. She wanted everything to burn. Remembering the candle, she picked it up. Daniel’s eyes widened with panic. Anna dropped the candle onto a pile of crumpled paper and smiled as the flame caught. It engulfed the pictures and reached for more.
“No! Fire! Fire! Hurry, come on!” Daniel motioned to the two guards at the far end of the metal room. Not waiting for them, he raced to the door of her house. “I’m getting you out, Anna.”
He cupped his hand over the lock. A ball of light formed, flickered, and faded away. Sweat dribbled down the side of Daniel’s face.
“Crap!”
Daniel sucked in a breath, and suddenly he was glowing himself. An aura of white light surrounded his body. He narrowed his eyes at the lock, and Anna heard a pop as if the lock had exploded. The door swung open. Daniel staggered backward.
“Come on out, miss,” one of the guards called. He was preparing a fire extinguisher for use. The other guard had a steadying hand clutched around Daniel’s elbow. Without it, Daniel looked as if he would fall. He had his eyes closed and was breathing hard. The white glow had disappeared.
Freedom is within your grasp. Set us free to help you.
She hesitated. A tendril of flame licked at her ankles.
When the fire is gone, they will cage you again. They fear us too much.
The guard with the fire extinguisher seized her arm and tugged. “Out you go, miss.”
She wrenched herself loose and gave permission to Sekhmet. Once in control, Sekhmet attacked the guard, kicking him out of the house. The other guard released Daniel and moved forward to help his partner. Anna watched as her hands scooped up the fire exinguisher and used it to knock both guards unconscious.
“Anna?” Daniel’s voice was weak, and without the guard’s support, he swayed as he tried to take a step toward her.
Sekhmet hefted the fire extinguisher. No! Anna commanded, resuming control. She dropped the fire extinguisher and hurried back inside her house. She rummaged for one particular paper, the encroaching fire heating her back and Sekhmet screaming protests in her mind. She ignored both. After a moment, she found the paper she sought.
Hurry! The guardian comes.
She looked up and saw Jack O’Neill running toward them. She exited the house and pressed the paper into Daniel’s hands.
“For the bomb. Good-bye, Daniel.”
At Sekhmet’s prompting, Anna grabbed a gun from one of the fallen guards. She was sprinting away when her legs suddenly locked and wouldn’t move. She screamed at Sekhmet, What are you doing?
It isn’t us. It’s the boy.
“Wait, Anna. Stop.” Daniel was glowing again. “Please, just let me talk to you.”
Anna—or Sekhmet, she wasn’t sure which one she was at that moment—snarled and jerked at the invisible bonds.
“Stop...fighting me. I just...want to...help.”
Daniel gasped. The invisible force released her. She heard Jack shouting Daniel’s name as she dashed away. Risking a glance over her shoulder, she saw Daniel writhing on the floor, his muscles spasming.
Keep going. The guardian will care for the boy.
Outside the metal room, Anna paused and asked breathlessly, “Which way?”
Keffler.
“I want to leave. Can’t we just go someplace safe?”
Silly girl, do you think his device only gave us pain? A monster like Keffler would make sure it could kill us as well.
She couldn’t fathom what Sekhmet was telling her. “He promised to cure me.”
Sweet innocence. There is no cure. There was never a cure. I, Sekhmet, am part of you and always will be. This is the way Keffler made us. You... you were nothing to him.
Anna felt the rage again and let it grow. Let it consume her. How could he lie to her like that? She was better than all of them, and he had tried to deceive her. He would pay. She curled her fingers around the stolen gun. Together, she and Sekhmet began the hunt.
#
Jack didn’t think his nerves could stretch any tighter. They had started tensing on the way to Carter’s location while Daniel sat in the truck, stiff and pale, muttering, “Anna. Bomb. Stay here,” over and over. Then they’d been drawn even more taut by Daniel’s recent slip into the past when talking to Anna. Now Jonas wanted him to leave the room. To leave Daniel alone with Anna. Granted, the girl was in a cage. And everything seemed quiet with both Daniel and Anna sitting cross-legged, staring at a candle flame. It wasn’t a quiet that Jack's nerves trusted.
Daniel’s voice seemed to speak inside Jack’s mind. Go on. I’m fine.
Jack frowned at the boy, who hadn’t even glanced at him. It shouldn’t surprise him that Daniel could sense his mood. The adult Daniel had always been good at that. The kid, however, seemed attuned to Jack on a level that was uncanny. Jack really wished he knew if it should bother him. He also wondered if it should bother him that this Daniel could speak to him without saying anything. He’d always been able to look across a room and have a fairly good idea what Daniel was thinking, but before the child-sized version, he’d never heard the actual words in his head.
We’re meditating, Daniel’s “voice” added. How much trouble can we get into?
Jack snorted because Daniel attracted trouble the way other kids collected bugs and dirt. But the mental nudge was accompanied by a “I’ve got this under control” attitude that was so normal, so utterly Daniel, that Jack felt himself reassured. He left the kids to their meditating and went to check on Jonas.
“Sam went to the lab, and I thought someone should see this," Jonas said as Jack entered the small security room.
Jack’s nerves began to tingle again. Even after almost a year and a half on Earth, Jonas still tended to have that wide-eyed “I'm a tourist” look, and whenever his expression turned as solemn as it looked now, it was never a good thing.
“Documentation of their research. I think it’s the only one. I’ve looked, believe me, and this is all I’ve found.” Jonas handed over a video tape.
Jack stared at it. The word “Daniel” was printed in big, black letters along the side of the tape. “Did you...” He cleared his throat when his voice rasped and tried again, “Did you watch it?”
“A little bit,” Jonas admitted quietly. “Just enough to make sure what it was, you know. It was...unsettling.”
Jack thrust the tape back at Jonas. “Put it in.”
Jonas accepted the tape but didn’t follow the order right away. “Colonel, are you sure? It’s not... You’re not going to... I mean, you might prefer someone more objective...”
“Put it in,” Jack snapped.
Jonas fed the tape to the video machine, doing it with slow, deliberate motions so that Jack could still stop him with a word. Jonas was probably right. This wasn’t the best time or place. But Jack needed to know, needed to see...
“I’m the one who deals with the nightmares,” he said quietly, his gaze fixed on the empty video screen.
Jonas replied just as quietly, “I know.”
He pressed play.
The sight of Daniel strapped to a medical table was enough to make Jack’s gorge rise. He swallowed hard several times. His nausea soon gave way to fury as the man that Jonas identified as Keffler tried to coax Daniel into cooperation. When Daniel vehemently refused to access his ascended powers, Keffler instructed one of his associates to give Daniel “incentive.” Jack tightened his jaw when an electrical charge caused Daniel’s back to arch. The boy screamed, tugging against the restraints. When he begged for them to stop hurting him, Jack clenched his fists and had to fight himself to keep from smashing something. Anything. Even when Jonas turned off the video and the screen went dark, Jack could still see the image of Daniel’s terrified face.
“Colonel? Colonel O’Neill?”
Gradually, Jack became aware of Jonas trying to get his attention.
“What?” he demanded, the latent anger making his voice sharper than he’d intended.
Jonas didn’t seem to notice the acid tone. By now, he’d probably figured out that Jack’s bark was worse than his bite. Or else, he was more concerned about getting Jack to notice the real-time video screen where they could see flames devouring the inside of Anna’s cage and two of Barrett’s men charging forward. And most disturbing of all, Daniel was glowing.
“Shit!”
With Jonas right behind him, Jack hurried back to the large room where he’d left his kid. He reassessed as he rushed inside. The guards were out cold, the fire was still blazing, and Anna was loose. She gave something to Daniel, helped herself to a gun, and tried to flee. Sprinting forward to close the distance between them, Jack watched nervously as Daniel pulled Anna to a halt. He knew, by the white glow surrounding the boy’s body, that Daniel was drawing energy from outside himself, which meant he needed a little boost from the ascended plane to accomplish the task of holding Anna in place. Normally, Daniel could handle extra energy without a problem, but with Janet’s inhibitor in place...
Before the thought had completely formed in Jack’s mind, the glow snapped off. Daniel went rigid. A moment later, he crumpled to the floor, convulsions rippling through his body. A chance of seizures, Janet had said. Jack’s heart jumped to his throat.
“Daniel!”
Ohgodohgodohgod. Brain frozen with sudden terror, Jack reached Daniel’s side. He dropped to his knees and turned Daniel’s twitching body into the recovery position. Seconds later, Daniel’s muscles stopped jerking. The seizure had happened so quickly that it seemed to be over almost as soon as it began.
“Jack?” As his eyelids fluttered open, Daniel moved his hand, searching for Jack.
“I’m here. I’ve got you.” Jack grasped the questing hand. “How do you feel?”
“Tired. A little sore. What happ—oh!”
Daniel’s hand tightened over his. Since Daniel’s “oh"’ was preceded by a inward look, Jack was suspecting a time-hop. “It’s over now. You’re not there anymore.”
Daniel gave a shaky nod. Then he started to struggle upright.
“Hey, none of that. You need to rest.”
“Can’t. Anna.”
“The Goa’uld got away, Daniel. Barrett’s men will find her.”
The Colonel-part of his brain had been vaguely aware of Jonas’s actions throughout the seizure. Jonas had put out the fire, checked on the two unconscious men, and was now using one of their radios to advise the other units in the building that Anna had escaped and was armed.
“It wasn’t Sekhmet. See?” Supporting himself on one arm, Daniel pushed up, grabbed a nearby piece of paper, and thrust it at Jack. “That’s how to stop the bomb. Anna gave it to me. She’s not a Goa’uld. Not yet. I have to stop her from becoming one.”
“This isn’t something you can stop, Daniel. There’s a Goa’uld inside her. You can’t change that.” Jack handed the bomb picture to Jonas and instructed him to get it to Teal’c.
“I don’t want her to be alone, Jack. I have you and everyone else at the SGC. Who does Anna have?”
Jack sighed. If there was one thing Daniel did well, it was emotional blackmail.
#
Sometimes Anna was in control. Sometimes it was Sekhmet who moved her body. It didn’t matter. Together, they avoided the people looking for them, tracked down Keffler, and cornered him. He lifted his hands in a conciliatory gesture and warily watched the gun she had aimed at him.
“The remote,” Anna demanded.
“Anna. Please. Let’s talk, Anna.”
Anna shuddered at the words. Sekhmet stepped closer and shoved the gun barrel against Keffler’s chest.
“Give me the remote. Now.”
His face paled. “Yes. Yes, all right. Here.” He carefully extracted the device from a pocket and surrendered it to her. “Come with me to the lab, Anna. I’ll help you.”
“Everyone wants to help, but no one can,” Anna said wearily. “It’s too late.”
“Whatever they told you...”
Sekhmet sneered at him. “I never believed you.” Like a cat toying with a mouse, she prodded him with the gun until he backed up against the wall and had nowhere else to go.
He gulped and pleaded, “I did it to help people. You have to understand that, Anna.”
Anna thought it was funny that he couldn’t tell the difference between her and Sekhmet anymore. Sometimes she couldn’t either.
“All the evil I have seen in my mind,” Anna said, “all the evil you put inside me...”
Such pure, unadulterated evil.
He twitched. She considered him. She was so much better than this twisted, bitter man. He deserved to die.
“Nothing compares to what I see in you.”
She pulled the trigger and felt nothing but vindication when the bullet tore into him. His lifeless body slumped to the ground. Alerted by the gunshot, others in the building closed in, blocking her way of escape. Anna wavered while Sekhmet clamored for control. If they gained their freedom at the expense of other lives, where would they go?
“Drop your weapon,” the blonde woman in the lead ordered, her own gun fixed steadily on Anna.
“No one else needs to die today,” Anna said. “Let me go.”
Sekhmet pushed a vision into her mind. Thirty-two people killed, their blood staining the floor of Anna’s prison. Their execution had created this partnership, the two of them working as one. It was a gift of freedom Sekhmet was willing to offer again, if Anna allowed it.
“Don’t listen to her, Anna,” Daniel said as he moved to a position in front of the blonde.
The woman hissed the boy’s name in protest. The one called Jack came up beside her. At his gesture, all the others lowered their weapons. The woman refused with a sharp shake of her head. Her eyes didn’t leave Anna.
Sekhmet growled impatiently, noting the opportunity they had. Only the woman to kill. Then the boy as a shield and bargaining chip. Freedom within their grasp.
“Fight her,” Daniel said. Even though he spoke softly, his voice seemed loud in the hush that had descended over the room.
Sekhmet pushed, insisting on control with ever-increasing fervor. Had it been anyone but Daniel who faced her, Anna would have given in to Sekhmet’s demands. When she was frightened, it was so much easier to let Sekhmet handle things for a while. But Daniel needed to live. She wanted him to celebrate his birthday, to have at least one to remember.
“You’re stronger than Sekhmet right now,” Daniel continued, taking a step closer to her. Brave, foolish boy. “You’re in control, Anna. You decide when she comes out.”
“She’s part of me.” Anna glanced at the dead body near her feet. “He made me this way. He put the evil inside me.”
“I know. And I know how Sekhmet can make the evil seem like a good thing.”
“She wants to help.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened. “No. No, she doesn’t. She’s pretending to share. Someday you’ll give her control, and she won’t give it back.”
In her mind, Sekhmet bucked like a wild animal, spitting insults at Daniel. Anna cried out when she felt Sekhmet take brief control of the gun. The others in the room tensed, but Daniel met her gaze and waited, trusting her. Anna wrestled the evil into submission. Breathing hard, she dropped the gun. Tears stung her eyes. She stared at Daniel.
“She said she could save me.”
“You have to save yourself, Anna,” he said so gently that she knew he would save her, if he could. “No one else can do it. You have to choose which one of you will be stronger.”
You are weak, little one. You have always been weak.
As if he could also hear Sekhmet’s voice, Daniel said, “She’s afraid of you.”
“She’ll win,” Anna whispered.
Daniel shook his head. “Only if you let her.”
It wasn’t just one choice, Anna realized. She would face the same decision every single day. Sekhmet would cajole and struggle and belittle until Anna was worn down. It was a fight Anna knew she couldn’t win. She looked at the remote in her hand. The choice wasn’t Anna or Sekhmet. It was life or death. Understanding Anna’s intention, Sekhmet screamed and tried to regain control. Anna slammed her thumb onto the button that would release a biotoxin into her brain.
“Anna! No!” Daniel jumped forward. She wasn’t sure whether he hoped to stop her or catch her. “Jack, help me!”
Her limbs lost all feeling. The remote dropped from her numb fingers and clattered to the floor. She started to topple after it, only to be caught by Jack and lowered carefully. Daniel knelt beside her. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face.
“I’m not strong enough,” she whispered.
“You are very strong, Anna. You saw the third path.”
She could feel her body shutting down. Sekhmet howled.
“I’m scared,” Anna said.
A tear dropped onto her cheek. Daniel was crying. She thought how nice it was that someone cared enough to mourn her. Maybe if she had met Daniel sooner, if she’d had friends like him, she wouldn’t have needed Sekhmet.
“Don’t be,” Daniel said gently. “Just relax and think of nothing. Empty your mind.”
She stared up into Daniel’s bright eyes. Sunshine seemed to shine from them, warming her face. Then the warmth began to spread to the rest of her body.
“You see a doorway.” His voice was so faraway, she could barely hear it. “Open the door.”
The sunlight in his eyes expanded until there was nothing else. The light surrounded her, inside and outside, cleansing her of all the darkness and the evil that had possessed her. She felt as if she were floating. Beyond the door that Daniel had instructed her to open, peace beckoned.
“Go through, Anna.”
So she did.
#
Two days later, Jack leaned against the door jamb of Daniel’s bedroom and watched the kid juggle three tennis-ball-sized globes of white light. Without actually touching any of them.
“It helps sometimes,” Daniel said, sitting cross-legged on his bed. He didn’t glance toward the doorway, but he knew Jack was there. That’s just the way his kid was. “If I concentrate on something else, I don’t go other places as much.”
“You could try the inhibitor again.”
Daniel shook his head. “Janet said I’d have to stay in the infirmary cuz of the seizures. Even though I told her it wouldn’t happen if I didn’t force my brain to work faster and then overload it with extra energy to help it along.”
“Like you did when you tried to stop Anna from running.”
“And to open her door lock before that. The inhibitor makes my brain feel all gooey, Jack. I don’t like it.”
“I’m not saying you have to use it. Just thought it might help with the time-hopping.”
Daniel let the glow-balls disappear and swiveled to face Jack. “It did help for a while. It taught me what the time-hops looked and felt like inside my brain, so now it’s easier to stop them. I’m figuring it out okay. Shifu’s been helping too.”
“Shall I assume then that it’s not the time-hopping that’s kept you holed up your room for the last two days?”
Daniel looked away. “I’ve been thinking.”
Jack figured that. And he’d given it some time to see if Daniel was going to talk on his own or whether Jack would have to prod the thoughts into words. Since Daniel had gotten progressively more moody in the two days of “thinking,” Jack decided the kid had stewed long enough.
“Wanna share?”
Daniel shrugged. He traced a pattern on the quilt Carter and Janet had given him.
Looked like prodding was on the menu. Jack sprawled sideways across the end of Daniel’s bed and propped his head in one hand.
“You’re worried about something,” Jack said.
“It’s probably nothing.”
“Then you wouldn’t be worrying about it.”
Daniel frowned as if he were trying to follow the logic of that one.
“Does it have to do with Anna?”
Daniel nibbled on his lower lip for a moment and then let his breath out in a gust. So, not too much prodding needed. Which meant Daniel hadn’t come to any conclusions on his own and Jack would be expected to pull a brilliant answer out of, well, somewhere in order to reassure the kid. Great.
“I was thinking about all that knowledge Anna had in her head. Everything the Goa’uld knew. All their secrets and their power. Even though she wanted to be good, it still made Anna do bad things.” Daniel looked up with the lost little boy expression that always made Jack’s heart melt. “I have lots of knowledge in my head too. What if it makes me bad?”
“Not going to happen,” Jack answered promptly. “Not even possible.”
“But--”
“It’s a completely different scenario, Daniel. You’re a good person. You always have been. That’s why Oma ascended you in the first place.”
“Just because the Others are ascended doesn’t make them good,” he argued. “They hurt me. Besides, the Ori are ascended too, and they’re definitely not good.”
“Well, I can’t judge the Oreo people since I’ve never met any of them.”
The Oreo crack didn’t even merit a small smile, and Daniel’s shoulders were tensing up. A trail of golden light began to follow the path of Daniel’s finger as it continued to draw patterns into the quilt. Daniel averted his gaze again, watching the afterimage of light instead of Jack.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say the Others are bad either,” Jack continued. “They’ve made some colossal mistakes, in my opinion, but most people do.”
In a monotone, Daniel rattled off, “‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ ‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ ‘The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall.’”
“Remind me to unplug the Internet next time you decide to brood for two days,” Jack said dryly. He sat up and cupped Daniel’s chin, tugging it gently upward. When Daniel met his gaze, Jack pronounced slowly and firmly, “You are a good person, Daniel. Nothing is going to change that.”
“How do you know?! What if I don’t stay good? What if I’m like Anna? What if--” He bit his lip, choking back the sob that had cut off his words.
“Sssh.” Jack brushed his thumb over the errant tear that had slid down Daniel’s cheek. “I know you will stay good because you have something Anna didn’t have.”
Daniel sniffed and stared at Jack as if he held the secrets of the universe.
“You said it yourself, Daniel. ‘Who does Anna have?’ Until you came along, she was all alone. She didn’t have parents or family or friends. But you have all of those things, and we are not going to lose you to the dark side.”
This time, his reference to the Star Wars movies got a tremulous smile. “Promise?”
“I promise.”
Daniel catapulted forward, threw his arms around Jack’s neck, and squeezed. His breath tickled in Jack’s ear as he whispered happily, “You’re a good person too. And I’ll make sure you stay good.”
Nothing new about that.
Jack hugged his kid closer.