by Kalyn Crowe
Kepi sat on the stone and sniffed the air, then turned an ear toward the forest. She cooed, sharp with insistence.
I folded Form filaments over the memory disk's mirror surface until I held only a bright red orb. I drew them through the metal.
The world shifted.
It spun sideways into a blur. Mother's office bled into reality from the edges of my vision. It solidified into a solid image — one from her view.
"Philomena, you must realize they betrayed my trust," a voice I didn't recognize said.
Her head turned and looked at a tall man with a neat side-parted low ponytail. It drifted over his high white collar tipped with metallic gold filigree. Beautiful gold embroidery decorated each hem of his jacket.
He said, "I know you think they were your friends, but they betrayed you, too." He folded his hands and sighed. "It is a shame. Take comfort in that they passed together." He licked over his teeth. "With their secrets."
A boil of anger welled up, but not my own. Still, Philomena's voice came out velvet and calculated. "They lacked resolve, High Lord."
High Lord? Is he Travere from eighteen years ago?
An idea entered from nowhere: the Chimera project would save Pinnacle. The Theocratic Council took the credit for his initiative.
"I am so glad you agree." His smile churned her stomach. "How are thirteen and fourteen? I fear the thirteenth will only have five souls, and I must not involve another Spiritist to add Abyss. Will these Chimeras still work for my purpose, or shall we start another generation?"
Now came fear, but again, steady words followed. "Abyss is not necessary for Thirteen, and have I ever given you doubt of my capabilities?"
"No, dear Lady. My mother will be most pleased to meet you." He reached for the door. "Yet, my sister is still missing. You are certain the other Voclain woman knew nothing when you went to see her?"
"I am, High Lord."
A slight frown came to his face. "A shame, indeed. The Voclians' deaths are troublesome. I would have liked to ask about my sister's whereabouts properly. Perhaps Eda will be more honest with me than she was you."
Philomena clenched her teeth on the inside of her lip. A familiar tell of nerves, but this time, the taste of blood accompanied her panic.
He opened the door and did not turn back, but said, "Wish Sybil well for me, should you see her."
The door shut.
I felt a tear streak her cheek as her vision drifted downward. She looked pregnant, but only emptiness filled her. Anger became the only warmth in her life.
Not out loud, but more of a hollow echo inside her said, "I will never let you have anyone else, never, you bastard. I will deny you. And you will know as much before the end."
Again a wave of blur washed over everything.
The glare of the jail came into focus as if someone parted curtains over a sun-soaked window.
This time she knelt beside Leyla's parents in their cell. The Voclains worked in careful flares of teal and glimmers of gold. They focused on the scroll.
A woman I immediately knew as Lady Voclain said, "He will ask us where she is, and if you cooperated with us. What your intentions are." Her bright, fevered eyes shot up and met my mother's. "I can't have that." Her voice was so like Leyla's. "I can only hope Leyla forgets what will happen to her. She'll hate us, but she'll live." Lady Voclain wiped a tear from her cheek.
"We've spoken to my sister. Eda will take Leyla." His daughter's name brought him near tears. He gulped. "But I'm scared they will question her first."
"I'll warn her," Philomena said.
"Eda is strong, stronger than me." He took a deep breath. "If she can't take in Leyla, please make sure our daughter finds a home where she can use this?" He indicated the scroll and wiped his brow with his sleeve.
Philomena blinked a few times. "I will."
Lady Voclain nodded. "Kat might take her when she's a bit older." She sighed. "I do not have to tell you the less who know," she said but stopped and held Philomena's hand. "I'm so sorry for what you'll go through."
Lord Voclain said, "After my final step, do it quickly." His breaths became shallow. He reached out to his wife and said, "Then you imbue what I give you."
Lady Voclain's shoulders rose and fell in the same scared and sick rhythm. "I will." She squeezed his hand and looked up. "Finish me as I say the last words."
Philomena shut her eyes after Lady Voclain looked at her. The memory went dark.
Lady Voclain's voice came through, "Thank you, Philomena. For everything now and then."
She opened her eyes and watched Lady Voclain work until she nodded at her husband.
As before, her thoughts came: If I hadn't helped on the project, would this have happened? If I refused to open the Maw? So many steps, how can I know which one started me astray? Now I must do this.
Nausea sliced through her, and she bled terrible sadness. Both of us cried.
Kepi's tail flicked through the corner of her vision.
Lord Voclain finished his preparations, and Lady Voclain readied herself.
A haze of invocations followed.
Lord Voclain spoke his final word.
A green flash came from below her vision.
Philomena drove a Conduction dagger into his chest.
He froze up as the blood stilled around his heart, its Conduction, its movement, pushed away.
Lady Voclain's invocation caused an implosion of gold and teal around Leyla's scroll. She bowed her head to Philomena and held it.
A second Conduction dagger slipped through a second heart.
Lady Voclain's eyes stilled, but the same rush of Anima happened around the scroll as it fell to the ground.
Little twinkles of emerald sparkled around its edges and faded.
Touched by the daggers Philomena wielded, it let the Voclain's magic stay. It also allowed for Leyla to give movement to her words and gave the scroll flight at her command.
A surge of agony ripped through me.
The vision swept away like sand in the wind.
A desk rattled under two fists. We stood back in the office.
Travere leaned on his hands still planted on her desktop. "How? You said everything went well."
"High Lord, we have never put this many souls together before. The initial bond and implantation did prove successful. She is only now unraveling."
"Is it because of the fourteenth's death? An imbalance?" He rose and rubbed his hands.
She looked down and still appeared pregnant.
"It's bad enough the body died. We needed the thirteenth to imbue my mother into it." He paced the room. "Now she remains in her disk until we build another solution. Can we create another suitable body for my mother?"
One of her hands rested on her fake belly. The other touched Kepi. Stress gnawed at her resolve. "Such a different body caused Fourteen too much physical strain. Thirteen fights with her mental self. I believe imbalance is very much the cause of the issues. Too much, too fast. It may benefit us to retrace our methods before another attempt." Her voice held only a breath of uncertainty.
He stood still with his arms crossed. "You had six pairs for practice."
"They were all the same, High Lord, except for the Apexial addition to the twelfth chick as a test."
"A successful test. You mixed Odion's blood with the Abyssite and chicken without issue. The Voclain woman imbued the dog's soul, and it stayed."
Except for it wasn't Odion's blood, it was Kepi's, to hide whomever they stole away and put in twelve.
The memory slowed as my present mind churned.
When Lady Travere ran from the Order, she was still pregnant. So she had the baby.
"And Travere found his family," Philomena's voice completed my thought.
Her memory swam to a time of joy. The feeling permeated and danced through her even in this reflection of time and space.
A radiant gold hole in the world opened, somewhere in the High Hall. An azure Woven sphere nearly fille
d the grand room.
"You've done it, Lady Tash." A warm hand squeezed her shoulder.
She turned and looked at Ansgar. "Thank you, High Templar, for overseeing this."
"An honor. This is a miraculous event."
They met glances for a long moment.
He bowed his head and stepped backward. He shook hands with Conrad and the nearby beautiful, muscular woman who wore her hair in thin braids. It was Conrad's wife, the original Matilda.
Philomena admired her mix of compassion and strength, as I did. Perhaps, as I still did.
Travere stood by as well, although the sight of him didn't turn Philomena's stomach as it had in other memories.
Sybil attended with such pride and a huge smile. Her dark hair hung long over her shoulders. The sight of her, of her happiness, sent tingles of joy through this memory.
Odion's song-like whinny came from the portal.
Philomena glanced back at Ansgar. He looked at the Apex portal with a certain amount of distrust. As their eyes met, the memory faded.
Her mind took me to another room. This one dark except for only a few candles. Troves of books lined the walls around a single cushioned chair.
Ansgar's voice came from behind, "They will come tomorrow night unless I stop Bora. You know what that means."
She covered her mouth and looked down into a cradle. Her fake belly gone.
My vacant face looked back.
"The tip came anonymously again, like the Voclains." His hands closed around her upper arms, gentle and kind.
"You can't get involved." She turned to see him near tears.
Ansgar wore a hooded cloak and regular clothes bereft of any Silver Rays or ropes. "Please, run, like Lady Travere. Take the baby and go."
She looked over at Kepi and back to Ansgar.
He tightened his mouth and let go.
"If I run, even if you fake my pursuit as you did for Lady Travere, even if Conrad looks the other way, someone will hunt us."
"Who?"
Her resolve crystallized as she decided Ansgar couldn't know about Travere. He would fight and die. "Sybil will be safe, I trust? Also, you, you know nothing, you weren't here." She took his hand. "Promise me."
He sighed. "Nothing has come about for Sybil, your distance saves her, saves me. It has all these years." He squeezed her hand. "Philo, the baby. This project. It's all cursed. I know you, you would never have betrayed Sybil."
"Luckily, you're the only one who thinks so. Sybil hates me; you should try to as well."
He took her other hand. "I'll make sure the baby goes to the best orphanage and see to Lord Odion and Lady Tempest's well being. The lad who took over the stables is a templar."
"Thank you. Please see that Meredith receives Kepi, she will meet Odion when it is time. Don't reveal it was your doing." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I will miss you."
He sniffed and nodded. "I didn't come here to say goodbye." He let go of one of her hands and grazed the back of the other with his fingertips. He traced an old scar. "I have many regrets, knowing you will never be among them. I promise you."
It was Ansgar. With this warning, he gave her a secret, not the other way around. Then he saved me. Again. No wonder she risked thanking him. She couldn't bear to forget his kindness.
The image of their hands blurred, and her mind took me to a time when she rode Odion.
Before all the 'goodbyes,' there was a 'hello.'
30 - And Below
The stars dotted the sky, and the scent of cedar trees rode gusts. Odion carried Philomena back and forth to this spot. Of course, it would only have taken her a day on his skilled and steady paws.
She stood by the lake, where we were now, mud on her boots, but Kepi wasn't on her shoulder, or anywhere.
A familiar 'coo' came from every direction. It lilted and swooped in the same melody as the Chimera's call.
Philomena's gaze rested on the surface of the lake. A spiral swam into existence and distorted the stars' reflection.
Air and water formed an hourglass. Two mirrored whirlpools, one above, and one below the surface of the lake.
A gust snaked around the torrent.
The Tempest came.
Where the rippled cones met, a diamond spark fought with reality.
None of this originated from Philomena. Her hands were still as her heart pounded.
Odion watched from the forest's edge.
White lines spiraled out from the center of the cones. They warped and pitched the elements. In a white shock of light, all became silent and still.
On the lake's surface, in the star's reflections, stood Kepi.
She looked at Philomena in the same profound way she watched me.
Philomena knelt and said, "What would you have me do, Highest Lady?"
Kepi looked toward Pinnacle.
I came back to the current time.
Still safe in Thirteen's palm, I clutched the memory disk.
She cradled me as I gasped.
Kepi stood on the edge of the outcrop.
"It's only been a few seconds, what happened?" Rhys said.
Leyla looked frustrated; she couldn't tend to me.
Kepi and I stared at one another.
I said, "She called you 'Highest Lady' when you met."
She wrapped her tail over her talons.
"Odion brought Philomena. Something drew him here. He could feel home was near. Is that it?"
She cooed short and a little excited.
Everyone else watched our conversation.
I said to Kepi, "Why did you come to her? Why show her what Odion sensed was real?"
Thirteen blinked.
Kepi did not.
Although the memory didn't show me, I knew something else. "For the Counterbalance, the way to Apex, she built it first and in Phase."
She cooed crisply.
The mountains loomed so far away, but the light of Pinnacle flashed like the first star at sunset. "Phase is fluid. It's close here and in the city. Is that why the ancient Order built Pinnacle where they did?"
She glanced into the woods and cooed.
I added, "The Capstone Seal and the Maw are right next to the Counterbalance because of that fact."
She cooed again and stood.
"Everywhere and nowhere." I looked back from the surface of the memory disk. "Thirteen, are you certain this contains all my memories?"
"Yes." She tilted her head and gave me a coy smile. "Are you Mother again?"
"I think it will take more than my current skill set to be both Mother and Sister." I furrowed my brow.
Leyla stood at the edge of the outcrop by Kepi.
"Travere set up our families," I said. "He let the Theocratic Council take credit for the Chimera project. He probably started the war as an excuse and helped the Abyss revolt then, too."
Leyla scrunched her face with confusion.
Rhys said, "But, what? Why would he do that?"
Tilly screeched.
"His family. The Order destroyed it, remember? His father supported the Order and council over his love and children. Lady Travere escaped with his sister. I imagine she gave birth to her in the East." I paused and looked at Rhys over my shoulder. "Then he found them and brought both back in secret." I lifted the disk. "Apexists can imbue many tools."
Rhys didn't budge as the color faded from his cheeks. "Thirteen, what Attunement are you missing?"
"Abyss."
I nodded more to myself than anyone else. "Travere set up the Chimera project and team to destroy his sister, and to resurrect his mother; I'm in her body."
Thirteen nodded. "This is true." She set me back on the outcrop.
I knelt beside Tilly.
She warbled.
"I'm sorry young Lady Travere," I said.
She bobbed her head.
Rhys ran his fingers through his hair and then over his face.
"Kepi was right. If you didn't age in the disk, you'd be around nineteen years ol
d."
She tucked her legs under her and sat with a sigh.
"Apex above." Rhys wobbled into a cross-legged seat beside her. "So you're the person that the council feared would be the strongest Abyssist in the Natural Plane and ruin the Order?"
She tilted her head.
He smiled at her.
"We can free Tilly." I toed the edge of the outcrop. "Thirteen?"
She folded her hands and waited.
"You could move her to a body like mine if we found one?"
"Or if Mother made another set." She touched her lips and studied Tilly. "Yet the twin body would need a purpose. It is cruel to leave one still."
Rhys said, "Mere, I know a lot is going on, but the guy who holds the most sway in the Order is out for us. Tilly wouldn't want us to forget about the people trapped in Pinnacle."
"No, you're right, one thing at a time." I straightened out my jacket.
Leyla said, "If we find Ansgar, he can attest to Travere's wrongdoing. Bora will call off the witch hunt of Gunnar and the others. The Order will go against Travere."
Thirteen dipped her head.
I said, "Thirteen, would you have any idea where Travere hid Ansgar?"
"No, it was unknown he did. Mother said to protect Ansgar, to never hurt him. Travere has stolen him in this lifetime then?"
"Yes, a few days ago."
She tightened her features and frowned. "How? Did he learn of his warning?"
Rhys said, "Warning?"
I waved my hand at him. "I don't know why Travere captured him after all this time. An Abyssite attacked, and both it and Ansgar disappeared in an alley within the city." I placed the memory disk in my jacket.
"Travere hasn't been in the capital either." Rhys stood up, "He and the council sent Sybil for the Counterbalance before he left, do you know why? Was it to have her out of the picture?"
"I'm sure that was part, but he wants to find this place, or he wouldn't have chanced she might find it." I smoothed my sleeve. "He wants Thirteen."
She knit her hands together near her chest.
Kepi leaped to my shoulder and pulled my collar.
I tensed my fingers. "Where?"
She looked at the forest.
Rhys and Leyla squinted at where she focused.
I whispered, "Someone followed."
Thirteen sunk into the lake. "Highest Lady, is it him?"
