emptynight | Scanning...Scanning... One Virus Found!

Reliving the past few minutes' events in his mind, Thomas tried to catch what he had been about to say while had had been mixing drinks. 'How was your trip?' As if he'd known she'd been gone somewhere, and then he'd looked up and that certainty had gone.

'Bob, can you hear me?' he thought, feeling mildly ridiculous at thinking at the spirit of intellect now riding shotgun in his brain.

'Yeah, boss. Something weird's going on. By the way, your pizza's ready.' It was unsettling; he didn't so much as hear Bob as a booming voice now as just knew what the spirit was saying. Thomas looked down to see the pizza Dru had set before him and began eating automatically.

'You felt it too, great.' Thomas chewed on a piece of pepperoni pizza and grabbed one of the drinks he'd made, sipping at it. 'Can you take a look around inside my head while you're in here? See if there's any signs of bad mojo?' The rum and coke burned a little on its way down his throat and another thought occurred to Thomas. 'Bad mojo or control. Like, White Court work.'

Bob somehow managed to whistle inside his head. 'Sure thing, boss. What've you been getting yourself into that the cameras don't show?' There was a pause. 'Thomas, if you want a thorough head virus scan, you're going to have to give me permission to see all the upper level stuff too.'

Thomas sighed and shoved more pizza into his mouth as he listened to Lacci and Edward. Dru was cutting the sparkling brownies with a concentration most people reserved for calculus. 'You have my permission to access everything for one minute for the sole purpose of virus scanning my mind.'

The sensation was disconcerting, to say the least. It was as if someone was playing his entire on a TV screen, except they were going backwards and forwards at incredible speed. There was a flash of himself screaming in agonized want as Dru flayed him. 'Wow, you're into that sort of--'

'Shut up, Bob.'

And after a literal lifetime, it stopped and Thomas was in his own head again. 'Anything?' Thomas asked.

'Bad mojo, you've got.' Bob answered, somehow managing to sound grave. 'But it's all related to Gotherella, to make you think she'd gone off on her own and set to disappear when she got back. Powerful stuff, but not at all subtle. Sort of like Harry. Means whoever did it doesn’t have a very good hold on your brain, boss. Keep it that way.'

'What about control?' Thomas couldn't help but remember the feeling of being collared when the others had found him in the tub, or when he’d talked to Edward. 'I don't know what Jean-Claude's kind's capable of…'

Bob managed to tsk inside his head. 'Nothing of the sort in here. And trust me, I'd have noticed it if I'd seen it. I saw an attempt Lara made on you like twenty years ago. I would have seen active controls, no matter how subtle.'

Thomas' eyebrows climbed at Bob’s words. 'Lara? That bitch. Thanks, Bob.'

'No problem. Does Harry know about—'

The image that accompanied Bob’s question made Thomas cut him off. 'No, and he's not going to. Swear it, Bob.'

There was a sulk. 'I swear.'