Chapter 10
The Consultation

Karasuma finally found the small cottage tucked away in the forest, amidst a scattering of other, more dilapidated cottages of what had once been a mountain hamlet. It was the only cottage that looked livable, and a cherry tree next to the front door was in full blossom. It presented a charming picture. It looked tranquil.

"Robin?" she called at the door.

"Yes, I'm here. Just a moment."

She heard a latch lift, then the door opened.

Robin's hair was loose and tangled. She wore the lavender yukata Karasuma had sent her as a birthday gift.

"How is he?" Karasuma asked.

"He's..." Her voice was tight and small. "Miho, I don't know what to do."

"Is he...?"

"He's alive, for now. For..." Robin grabbed her arm and pulled her inside, and barred the door behind them.

"He...passed out," Robin said. She was extremely tired and having trouble remembering the right words. "If he knew the Orbo was...hurting him, he didn't tell me. Why wouldn't he tell me?"

"He wouldn't want you to worry," Karasuma said. "Or maybe he didn't want to admit it to himself."

Robin had led her into Amon's room. Karasuma froze, staring at Amon and the Craft symbols around him.

"What did you do to him?"

"A spell to slow the passage of time for him, to give me time to find a way to help him."

"This is..." Terrifying, she wanted to say, looking over the hieroglyphics and wondering what they meant. "...advanced Craft. I've never seen anything like it."

"It's desperate. I didn't know what else to do, but I couldn't just let Amon die. If you think I've grown too powerful, please just help me save Amon first."

"I can't condemn you for using your power to save Amon," Karasuma said. "You look exhausted. Have you slept?"

"Not much. I had to be ready in case we were attacked again."

"Attacked? Master didn't say anything about an attack. What attacked you?"

"I'm not sure. A woman I've never seen before. A Witch, maybe, but she had powers I've never heard of. There were...dark shapes. Like blobs and tendrils. It was something like a monster. Then the woman disappeared, it was like she went right through the wall."

"Really?" Karasuma was just as perplexed as Robin.

"But Amon seemed to recognize her. They seemed to know each other."

"I don't know who she could have been. Moving through a wall is a power I've never heard of. But Amon has been with the STN-J longer than I have; it could be a Witch he encountered before. Did the attack cause this illness?"

"It came on after the second attack, the time when it was just the monster. I think it might have brought it on."

"But I thought it had to do with Orbo."

Robin pulled up Amon's sleeve to reveal his shoulder. "This is where he was shot by the Orbo bullet."

Karasuma recoiled at the sight of it: the skin around the scar where the dart entered was white with a blue tint, spreading outward across his shoulder and down his arm. "I see. Yesterday I asked Dojima what she knew about the Orbo, about how it worked and the effect it had on Witches and humans. She told me that Orbo was made from a DNA sequence that absorbs energy. In a living Witch it's combined with other genes to convert raw energy into the Witch's power, but on its own it absorbs all the energy it can, incapacitating the Witch. She said in some Witches, if the Orbo sample was genetically compatible, the Orbo can be absorbed into the Witch's own cells. She didn't know how it would affect a Hunter, but I think...I think that's what's happening to Amon. The Orbo survived in his body and now it's spreading, like a cancer."

"No! It's too horrible. How can we stop it? There must be a way."

"I don't know. Dojima said if a Witch was very powerful, the Orbo in their body would reach its capacity and fall apart. That explains how you were able to destroy the Orbo bullets Zaizen shot at you: your power was enough to burn out the Orbo before it reached you. But I don't know if your power could have any effect on the Orbo inside another person's body."

Robin thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. "Not without burning him."

"Better that than letting it consume him." A moment later, Karasuma said thoughtfully, "If he could somehow use his own power, if he could try, it might be enough to clear out the Orbo."

"Does he have power? I never saw him use it. And he never even talked about it. I asked him about it once, and it seemed to upset him."

"He always tried to avoid using his power. After we started hunting with Orbo, he never used it. Even before, he only used it a couple of times that I know of, only when his or someone else's life was in danger."

"What was his power?"

"He could create illusions. One time he made another Amon appear on the other side of the room, and the Witch didn't know which to attack."

Robin's eyes widened as realization struck her. "That's it!"

Karasuma looked at her curiously. "What?"

"When a person is infected with a virus, their body produces a fever to try to kill the virus. When the Orbo in Amon's body was absorbing his power, his body reacted by producing more power to try to burn the infection out. We weren't attacked at all; it was an illusion Amon was accidentally creating. He said it was there because of him. I misunderstood. I thought he meant it was after him, but what he meant was that he was creating it."

"And knowing Amon, he did everything he could to try to stop it."

Robin nodded. Then another thought occurred to her. "Miho...what did Kate look like?"

"Kate?"

"Amon's partner before me."

"She was tall, pretty, light brown hair. You think that was the woman you saw?"

"Yes. She had an accent. British, maybe."

"Australian? Kate was Australian."

"That could be it."

"If Amon is the one who hunted Kate, he must feel an incredible weight of guilt."

Robin recalled Amon coldly confirming that he had hunted his last partner. He hadn't sounded guilt-stricken. But with Amon it was hard to know what he was feeling.

"We know how to save him now," she said. "I need to wake him up and get him to use his power until the Orbo breaks up."

"If he's powerful enough to overcome it. I'm not sure he is," Karasuma said. "And Orbo doesn't just absorb Witch power; it also goes after psychological and emotional energy. If it activated his power, it may also have been affecting his psychological state, and I don't know what effect that will have on the Orbo. Amon has always been...very emotionally controlled. I don't know if that helps him or hurts him against the Orbo."

Robin thought of the way Amon had touched her cheek before he lost consciousness.

You asked me if I've ever been in love.

Had he said that because of some effect Orbo was having on him?

Karasuma looked down sadly at Amon. "I have to get back. If I'm gone for more than a day it could arouse suspicion. I brought you something." She handed Robin a cell phone. "A prepaid phone, completely untraceable. I've programmed my number into it. If I learn anything else, I'll call you. If Amon recovers or...anything else, call me and let me know."

"I will. Thank you. I'll never forget this."