"Yeah, think about that," he said, gesturing at her vaguely. "I did bait you into being a bargaining chip. Although, in my defense, I can be nice and still have ulterior motives. That's not, like, an impossible combination."
"No," he replied, tilting his head as he considered his question. "It was a couple things, the most pressing being that you were the one who found me. Besides that, I figured that you were desirable. I know you think I'm joking about the Puck thing, but I'm not."
He brightened, approaching her again. “Great. Thanks,” he said, placing his left fingertips on her forehead. In an instant, she would feel a sense of being overwhelmed and a little claustrophobic. This quickly subsided, though, and she would hear Ben’s voice in her head as he chuckled. “You weren’t joking about the fears, Cal...” In front of her, Ben’s eyes were closed, and he was standing completely still.
She would hear him muttering to himself before he spoke up. “Alright. I’m going to do some things okay? I promise I won’t be too obtrusive.”
He had her step back from his body and raise an arm gently, which was extremely disconcerting, but a fascinating experience. It almost felt like when she was falling asleep and her body jerked without her telling it to, except these movements were slow and deliberate. “Alright. We’re going to summon the claws here,” he murmured, and she would see them appear in the corner of her eyes. “Now, this is where it’s going to get a little uncomfortable. Okay?”
It started off as a slow burn, but she would suddenly start to feel herself growing irritated. It was small, as if there was a mosquito buzzing around her head. After a few moments though, it was working up to a fury, a rage. The claws began to contort next to her as she struggled to gain control. “You know this feeling, right?”
“Good. Now watch.” Suddenly, she would feel a barrier slide up. The claws refocused and although she still felt the burn in her throat from the tempest inside her, it was as if the fires moved around her now. She felt the fury, knew it was there, but it was obedient to her, and unable to take control. The claws lunged forward and picked up the telescope, lifting it high into the air. Underneath the base was churning gears and spinning gadgets and the claws reached in with a precision and level of control that she had never felt before. It plucked a single gear from the mess of machinery and slowly, the entire machine stopped, going silent.
“Yes, you can,” Ben insisted. The claws replaced the gear and the spyglass returned to life, setting down the telescope and the fury drained away like water. She felt a release and Ben dropped his hand, opening his eyes. He looked pretty tired, but excited too. “That barrier? Did you feel that?”
