Gravity Rises (S3)

SP: Part Three

The weeks went by. Lee visited the Northwest Manor grounds almost every day, even in the freezing wind and snow. Percy bought a large supply of kitchen ingredients for him, too; Order members would often stop by the kitchen to find out where all the wonderful smells were coming from. Soon, Lee was interacting with more Order members than he ever had before. He talked to the Northwest servants when he could, too. They were a bit more reluctant, particularly if he interrupted them in the middle of their duties, but they still talked to him.

In all this interaction, Lee found himself to be unfortunately awkward in conversation. For six months, after all, he'd only had Percy to talk to — and Gaston at times, but he rarely said anything, so he didn't much count. (Even now, when Lee visited the Northwest Manor, he only caught occasional glimpses of the boy.) These stumbling attempts at conversation, however, only made Lee more determined to practice. He found he loved talking with people, even if he was awkward.

At first, Lee was so thrilled to have more space in his bounds that he hardly noticed that there were still bounds. He reached his limits on occasion: Some places in the Northwest Manor were excluded from the area of the hex, which he discovered by his wrist flaring green as his body tingled with the dense magic of the barriers. No matter. Boundaries notwithstanding, the Northwest Manor was huge, and its grounds more so. Lee actually felt free.

For a little while.

Time went on; with it, Lee's exuberance waned. It melted like the snow on the Northwest grounds. Places that had seemed new and exciting became routine — even boring — and the boundaries of the hex once again felt too small for him. When he first realized this change, he panicked. He tried to talk himself out of it. He had plenty of room! He shouldn't feel so claustrophobic! He should just be grateful for the space he had.

It didn't work.

The desire to escape resurfaced — and after being hidden for weeks, it felt stronger than ever. Lee found himself standing near the surrounding walls of the Northwest grounds, staring longingly at the sky just beyond the stone.

Stop it, he told himself. Don't do this to yourself. But he couldn't seem to stay away.

He told Bill about his problem. The triangle listened and reminded Lee about his deal to change his mind. But Lee didn't want to hear about that; despite the shame he felt for wanting to escape, he didn't want to sit back and act like a good little prisoner.

It seemed all Bill wanted to talk about was the deal, so conversations with him only increased Lee's guilt. Percy, too, would mention Lee's greater freedom with this new hex, and that also made it worse. What would Percy say if he knew that Lee felt trapped again? Surely he would be disappointed.

Though Lee didn't want to disappoint Percy, he was simultaneously desperate to escape. The emotional disparity tore him apart.

"You're driving yourself insane, Blind Eye," Bill would say. "I can help."

To which Lee would respond, "I don't want to make a deal, okay?"

Bill simply replied, "When your next escape attempt fails, will you make a deal with me then?"

Lee only glared at him. As the days passed, he would try not to think about Bill's deal; but it was always there, lingering in the back of his mind.

One day, he saw the first robin of spring. He was out on the Northwest grounds, once again staring at the wall, when a beautiful brown robin flew into view. It perched on the top of the wall and sang a cheerful song. Then it flew away and disappeared behind the stone. It flew away and left Lee standing on the ground, trapped on his side.