by Elle Cross
I blinked at him, completely forgetting that he was standing there. I realized what I looked like. Mismatched clothes, messy bun…I was even barefoot for crying out loud. "No, not really, I heard a noise out here, and I thought..." My voice trailed off with a shrug and left him to fill in the blank.
Officer Bailey nodded. "We're doing everything we can to find your friend." Then, he tapped his hat to me like a salute before he and his partner walked off.
Damn. I couldn't breach that door now without setting off all kinds of alarms. Plus, I wouldn’t put it past them to have some kind of hidden cameras for investigative reasons.
I retreated back into my apartment. Rajah stood still in the hallway, stubbornly growling low in his chest, and I had to call to him a few times before he came back into the apartment with me. Then he hopped up on the reading couch shaking the blanket before plopping down on top of it in a huff.
Well, he was kind of moody. I didn't blame him. He probably missed Jack as much as I did.
All my options were tapped out at the moment. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and decided that I could stand to take a shower and get my head clear.
Standing in the fog of my bathroom after my shower, I remembered something from last night that Deimos had told me. He had said that he had called in a favor from the Sylphs, and they had let him use a way into my apartment through my bathroom mirror.
Would I be able to do so for Jack?
Why not?
I dressed quickly, slipping on one of my favorite outfits that I liked to call, ‘The Sexy Librarian’. It was a corseted gray pencil skirt, with a fitted top and a black cap-sleeved cropped shrug with an open mandarin collar on top. I carried my heels and gloves in my carryall tote along with another change of clothes in case this field trip worked out better than expected.
With nothing else to do to procrastinate, I braced myself and stood in front of my bathroom mirror again.
I didn't know how I'd be able to activate it, after all I've touched my mirror many times over the years and have never accidentally opened a portal into another dimension nor swept away to another place. Facing myself now, I felt all kinds of stupid. Who in the hell did I think I was trying to use these methods reserved for the Remnant Gods.
This is ridiculous.
As I was berating myself for such a stupid idea, a little white smudge formed on the mirror. It was as if a cloud was trapped behind the glass.
I was compelled to touch it, and there was something like the hiss of white static under my hand. Instead of something coming out, though, there was this feeling that it was inviting me in.
I took my hand off of the glass. That invitation made me nervous. What was this thing and where was it thinking of taking me?
The cloud grew bigger, buzzing now like a hive of bees. And then, the buzzing gave way to a whisper of wind chimes on a breezy spring day clanged melodiously through the mirror. That was the calling card for Sylphs, specifically Lady Astara, I was sure of it.
This time, I placed my hand over the cloudy square and the mirror thrummed with power. For a split second I thought about Jack and getting into his apartment. In a blink I was enveloped in prismatic rainbows. My bathroom was behind me like I was seeing in through an opaque window at a distance. I'd be able to see anyone standing in front of that mirror.
Something niggled the back of my mind at that thought, like I was missing something.
I shifted my weight. The air was dense but soft, like I waded through a wall of marshmallows. When the pressure lessened a bit, I pushed with greater force. My momentum carried me through, all right, and had me somersaulting through lighter air, landing in a heap.
I got up, and I found myself in Jack's familiar non-bedroom. I wasn't surprised to see that behind me stood the mirror that wasn't a mirror. And that mirror began to ripple.
I vaguely remembered what that meant. That it was activated somehow and someone was asking for an entrance.
I pressed my hand against the cool surface. I expected it to feel wet, but it was like touching glass beneath my palm, except that it moved without becoming shards.
The liquid grew still.
Lady Astara shimmered into view, seemingly floating down the stairs that I hadn't been able to use since I thoughtlessly leaped out of the portal. "Ah Lady Vesper. I'd hoped it was you."
I blinked at her. "Were you...waiting for me?"
"Yes and no. I'd hoped to see you soon, and here you are. Besides, waiting is a different kind of experience when you live in an Ever Now."
Somehow that all made sense to me.
"We owe you a favor still, I know, as we have yet to locate Master Jack. However, after our conversation it occurred to me: If I could look through your memories, it would help us set up a location or perhaps you would be able to locate Master Jack yourself!"
"How?"
"Because you will be able to remember how to find him. It is, of course, what you do."
"Wait you said after our conversation? Since we met here last?” It felt so long ago, but it was only a few days, and I didn’t remember anything messing with my memory. “My memory wasn't tampered with?" Even as I said it, my lungs tightened as if I couldn’t breathe in enough air. Pressure started to push in like a clamp at the base of my skull.
She shimmered in an action that I took for giggling. "Oh my! I see that I am correct! It is worth a favor indeed to have you discover the depths of your hidden memories."
Okay that didn't clear up a damn thing. And why would my memories be worth spending a favor on? Shouldn’t she spend them on things that directly benefitted her? Then again, I wasn’t going to dig deep into the inner workings of Sylph politics. So, instead, I chose to clarify. I didn’t want to be one of those silly mortals in tragic history that accidentally bartered away something dear because of some senseless wordplay. "You want to help me with my memories? Is that what you're offering?”
She nodded.
“And you are using a favor to make sure I’m getting my memories back.” I slow-walked myself to the heart of the matter, and I was grateful that Astara was being patient as I came to my own conclusion. “And then, that leaves me in someone else’s debt, though. What is it that I would be putting up as payment?"
She tilted her head in that way of the Remnant Gods that made it seem that they were listening for something. Like they heard things with more than just their ears. "For audience with the Power Broker. The Lord Master."
Of course that brought to mind Deimos because he was the last person I'd spoken to about the Lord Master. Whoever he was supposed to be because I never got a straight answer. All Deimos seemed to talk about were the Power Brokers and the need for the veils to be maintained.
I shook my head like it would clear the fog in my brain. "But how would helping me with my memories help me locate Jack? And how would I be able to help you secure an audience with the Lord Master? I don't know either of these things and I don't want to commit to something that I have no control over." Especially because I didn’t want to be the one who looked like she had screwed over the Remnant Gods. Especially the Sylphs.
She laughed a tinkling of bells. "I forget how young you are, Lady Vesper. The Lord Master will do almost anything if you ask him, so I have every confidence that you will be able to deliver on your end. As for your memories? I believed that it would be important because that is what you do."
I pinched the bridge of my nose. "So you think I'd be able to find Jack because—?"
"Because finding things is what you do.” Astara turned to me then. "When you try to find him, he will find you."
I blinked at the shifting conversation, trying to figure out the context now.
She continued, "You are a seeker. In our language, we would call you an Omma. He will be drawn to you, have no doubt. You only need to look for him to be sure you draw his attention."
I just stared at her. “But I’ve been trying to find him this entire time.” I rode the wafer thin line that
would tip me into raising my voice and or otherwise show my displeasure at Astara.
She flicked her wrist at me dismissively. "You will see once you have your memories restored. There really is no point to it until the fog in your mind lifts.”
I blinked at her. That was exactly what it felt like: a fog in my mind. “How did you know?”
She spoke as if not hearing my question. “You have to understand, Lady Vesper, asking why you would find Master Jack? That is like asking why the leaves change colors in the fall or why the sun sets. It's nature. We accept it." She shimmered another giggle. "You will see. Once your memories are intact, you will not feel the need to ask such questions." She shimmered again, this time with streaks of color in her aura that I could feel was from annoyance. "What is taking him?"
A surge of harmonics left her and shot to the mirror.
I shook my head. "So why are you asking for my help instead of from other Sylphs?" Surely others would be a much better help than me. I didn't know the inner politics of the Remnant Gods.
She flared even brighter at that. "My Lady Vesper, Sylphs are barely allowed passage to Enyo—what Humans call Earth—let alone gain audience with the Lord Master!" She was barely visible amid her throes of laughter.
All her laughing made me feel like a comedian. Glad I could be so entertaining. "That wasn't really an answer."
A rustling of energies surged in descending harmonics in the mirror, and finally, a man stepped into view. He wasn't like a Sylph, airy and light. He was the weight and heft of a hammer, and about as subtle as one.
His shining white hair whipped around his face like he stood in the middle of a wind storm.
“Ah Lord Arris. You have arrived. I am glad you have finally found your way."
I might have been ignorant in Sylph politics, but I knew passive aggression when I heard it.
"That is Prince Arris to you." He took a step toward her. Lady Astara held her ground and ratcheted up her chin a notch.
It was hard to stare down someone who was taller than you. I should know since most people in my life were taller than me. But Lady Astara did a fine job of it.
She shimmered a smile, as if she heard me. "Prince Arris, is the Prince of the North Stars, Lady Vesper. I might have owed him a favor which is why he is here now."
Favors being paid by favors. I wondered if this was the type of currency that Astara wielded. Like when people decide what credit cards they planned on paying. Or like robbing Peter to pay Paul.
The Prince rounded on Lady Astara. "You know well and good that you do owe me a favor." He spoke with the pondering rhythm of a mallet against a bell-gong.
"As princely as he is," Astara said to me, not quite under her breath, "Adamantines seem to have trouble navigating straits."
I bit my lip to keep from smiling. It didn’t seem kind or strategic to laugh at a man with such a glowering expression.
Prince Arris looked me up and down like I was some sort of ill-trained dog that just piddled on his new carpet. "I do not see how it is possible that she is one of your Ommas. She is so...small. And weak. Are you sure she is one?"
Lady Astara shimmered at his side again. “Lady Vesper, please excuse Lord Arris. He’s a bit grumpy. To make up for it, he will not only unlock your memories, but also accompany you to The Forgotten Corridor, answering your questions so that you are prepared before you step through. From there, you will be able to navigate it on your own with your instincts.” She gestured to him.
“Uhm, Lady Astara, I can’t navigate anything.”
“You will child.” Then, to Prince Arris. “Fix her memories.”
He grumbled like a toddler. Then he captured me with his eyes, and the weight of the universe was inside them.
He directed a shooting star to hurtle its way through my mind. Then, halcyon breezes wisped the charred remnants of my shields away. All of my shields. Including the ones I erected around the null inside me.
“What have you done?” I whispered.
“It’s better this way. Your memories were partitioned, but the implanted curse was like a cancer. It built itself into your walls. It used your own defenses against you to keep the truth hidden. Sooner than later it would have eaten your mind clean.
“This way, you can rebuild your walls, if you like, but they will be built correctly, on solid foundation.”
Talk about ripping the bandage off a wound.
I felt like I was hemorrhaging.
“Lord Arris,” Astara’s voice was thick and garbled as her form gave way to something more molten.
“You said to fix her memories. I fixed her memories.”
A riot of flames licked over Astara’s fiery aspect. “There are subtler ways—”
“Those ways are for the Sylphs. The time for subtlety is over. Adamantines grow restless with this inaction.”
My head throbbed too much to follow the low key political intrigue that simmered underneath their words as I pressed the heels of my hands against my temples to hold my head together. It felt as if knives were constantly being raked through my brain. I breathed through the throbbing.
Lord Arris curled his lip in disdain at my crumbling pain. “This?” He gestured at me. “This is who you expect to—oh. Oh!” His hands actually clapped against his cheeks. “By the stars, I did not realize! I see what you mean now, Lady Astara!” He grimaced, actually looking like he had made a mistake.
Lady Astara rolled her eyes at him. “Adamantines are stubborn, Lady Vesper. Pay his attitude no mind.” A shimmering drop of light gathered at the end of her finger, growing in weight. “Here, Lady Vesper. To regulate the breach.”
She let it fall in the middle of my forehead, where I felt like I was enveloped in sunshine. I felt a weight lifted. There was a little throbbing, like a cut under a bandage, but at least it was manageable. I hadn’t realized that I had gone to my knees in my struggle. I rose to my feet, straightening my skirt to keep my hands busy as if that could somehow cover up the fact that I had been writhing in pain.
Astara made a self-satisfied noise, something close to a call bell. “Much better.” She nodded at me. Then she rounded on the Adamantine, flaring in a being of molten lava. “Would that have been too difficult?” she bit out at him, her voice the roaring fire that consumed entire forests.
“I did not realize the treasure before me.” For his part, he bowed low in entreaty.
“Pearls before swine, indeed,” Astara muttered while she returned to her more airy countenance. She fluffed her hair as if nothing had been amiss, her form flickering out of sight as she moved. “Now, Lord Arris, you will take Lady Vesper to the gates of the Forgotten Corridor. She can walk the paths of her destination from there.” She then turned to me with the air of girlish playfulness. “Lady Vesper, a pleasure as always.” Lady Astara bowed low, and flickered away.
The mirror shifted in front of me and turned opaque. I was very aware that I was alone with this random being I didn’t know and didn’t really like. And I was supposed to be walking to a cloudy nothing with him.
This wasn’t weird at all. Totally normal.
Lord Arris stepped to the side, as if in invitation to come along. “Come, little one, the sooner you start, the sooner you will reach your destination.”
There was a change in his demeanor that was for sure. Instead of the unyielding and cumbersome man that had stumbled in, he was actually pleasant. The harsh tang of his scent before—like burning solder—softened to something earthy, which I much preferred. It felt more inviting and warm rather than caustic and harmful.
I stepped up to him and slipped my gloved hand into his proffered one. The opacity of the entrance was another dense patch of air, but now I knew what to expect. I knew to walk steadily, with even steps, rather than pushing forward against the air. Once the pressure let off, I just hopped a little at the re-entry into normal air, rather than face planting.
Arris’ hand in mine also helped me keep my balance, though I let go of it as soon as
I could.
When I blinked the light out of my eyes, I saw that we were in a hall of mirrors, walking ona rushing beam of light. When I peered closer at what we walked along, it looked like the light flowed like a river. I had an odd compulsion to touch it.
Curling my fingers, I asked, “Where are we?”
“You’re asking the wrong question, my Lady.” Then he sighed, which sounded funny coming from him, it was like the grinding of engine gears. “It is such a shame that you were made to be born during these latter times. If you had been with us during our rule on Enyo, I would have had you as my lover.” He nodded as if he were sure, and sighed again, wistful.
I was pretty sure that any version of me would have seen him as a hard no but instead I just said, “Uhm…thanks?”
He was thoughtful for a moment, tilting his head. “Our time will come again…but no. You have already been claimed, yes? Pity.”
I blinked. What did he mean by that? No matter, that was an out and I took it. “Okay.” I hoped it wasn’t much longer. “So, what are we on?” Bringing him back to my original question.
“Hm? Oh, we are walking on a traveling star. You would call it a shooting or falling star.” He chuckled at that, the sound of boulders crashing against each other. “Amusing, no?”
I hid my confusion and nodded. “Hilarious.”
“Ah, here we are, then.” Through the occluded entrance, I thought it looked like a subway terminal. “Remember, we seek an audience with the Lord Master. Can you remember that?”
I nodded, eager to be away if this was the destination I sought.
Then, his expression softened, flickered just a little. “I was harsh with you earlier. I would take it back, but you know.” A slight shrug was supposed to finish that thought.
What was I to know? Damn these Remnant Gods. Leaving too much open to interpretation.
“What small favor can I exchange to make up for it?”
I was going to tell him to shove his head up his ass. But then, I thought about politics and war and how little attention was paid to collateral damage. “There is a little boy that doesn't know what had happened to his father." I allowed Prince Arris to sift through my memories. No sense denying him since he’d already done so. "The boy, Brian, he is too young to know what his father was or know why he is different. Maybe you can keep an eye on him? Just drop by every now and again to make sure he is safe? If it's not too out of your way?”
