Rebecca glared at Emily.
“I hate dealing with other empaths,” she said. “You’re impossible.”
“It’s not my preference, either,” Emily agreed. “I will be as glad to see you gone as you will be to leave.”
“You keep looking just above my head,” Rebecca said. “Why is that?”
“No particular reason,” Emily said. “Is there more I can help you with, Ms. Levy?”
“Yeah, there is,” Rebecca said. “You can explain what it is you’re doing tomorrow that has everyone so freaked out.”
“There is a fair bit of agitation just lately, isn’t there?”
“Yeah. What gives?”
“I suppose there’s no harm in telling you,” Emily said. “The Church of Sleep will manifest tomorrow in Central, inconveniently early in the morning.”
“You’re kidding.”
Emily shook her head.
“You’re…not kidding? Why in the hell would you not inform the Auditors of this? How are we supposed to stop it when it’s coming in a matter of hours?”
“That’s just it, Ms. Levy. We don’t want to stop it,” Emily said. “Originally that was the plan, but just lately, we’ve decided to change courses and destroy it when it arrives instead.” Emily smiled at Rebecca’s horrified look. “Doesn’t that sound exciting?”
“You’ve lost your mind,” Rebecca said. “You can’t possibly intend to—”
“I’d like to remind you that I’ve already taken the Far Shores, destroyed a World Tree, and one more little surprise I don’t think you even know about yet,” Emily said. “If I say I’m going to do it, doesn’t it seem safe to assume that I’ll do just that?”
***
Grigori borrowed a laptop from one of the technicians, and after a brief struggle with a torrent client, settled for streaming a movie that seemed to involve Nicolas Cage slaughtering a cult with a crossbow.
It was surprisingly good, and he wished immediately that he had someone to discuss it with.
He felt vaguely frustrated, sitting in his boxer shorts in his hot and spare dorm room, the last light dying as the screen shut off to save power.
***
They were nearly alone in the cafeteria, a mediocre frozen dinner steaming from the microwave on his plate, while she had a selection of gummi bears and Skittles, and a small bowl of whipped cream.
“I’m starting to feel like it’s going to be okay,” Alex said, cutting into the dry chicken breast. “This is gonna work, tomorrow. I’m sure I can do this.”
“Really?” Eerie looked at him curiously, a bit of whipped cream on her nose. “Why are you so sure?”
“Gaul was always super smart, right? He was the Director, and he seemed to know everything.” Alex put a fork full of chicken in his mouth, his jaw bulging with effort as he chewed. “If he says that I can destroy the Church, then I’m sure I can.”
Eerie glanced up from her ongoing project of sorting the Skittles and candy bears. She had eaten all the greens and half the reds, but thus far had left the other colors untouched.
“I think you can do it, too,” Eerie said. “I’m just afraid of what it might do to you.”
“How bad it could be?” Alex said, trying on a confident grin. “I’ll sleep for a little while, maybe. That’s happened before. It’ll be fine.”
“I don’t know. This will be hard. Much, much harder than anything you’ve done with your protocol before.”
“There’s a first time for everything. I’ll figure it out.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Eerie fretted. “I’m worried about whether you’ll live, and if you do, how long you’ll be asleep.”
“You must have some clue, right?” Alex’s grin faltered. “An estimate?”
Eerie shook her head.
Alex set aside his fork, and then pushed aside his plate.
“Give me a ballpark number,” Alex said urgently. “Just an idea.”
Eerie shook her head more violently.
“Are we talking weeks?”
Eerie looked away.
“Months?”
Alex saw her stiffen and her hand tremble, and his suppressed despair poured out of him, spewing from his heart like an oil strike in an old cartoon.
“You can’t mean…years? Eerie?”
She grabbed his hand.
“Alex!”
“Years?” He reached for his glass, and his numb fingers knocked it over, spilling bright orange sports drink across the table. “Like, one year, or—?”
“That’s not it,” Eerie said, tugging on his hand. “Look!”
She pointed, and Alex looked.
“Oh shit,” he breathed. “Come on! We gotta go.”
He was just out of his seat when Rebecca Levy smacked her hand down on the table, making the dishes clatter and scattering Eerie’s carefully organized candy.
“Sit the fuck down,” Rebecca ordered. “Both of you.”
Alex sat down immediately, moving so fast that the impact against the seat hurt. Eerie looked horrified, and when he grabbed her hand beneath the table, her fingers were shaking.
“I have a million things that I am supposed to be doing, and probably a lot more that I should be doing,” Rebecca said, sitting down across from them. “Imagine how happy it makes me to be forced to deal with you two instead.”
Alex considered replying, but then he took a closer look at Rebecca’s expression, and the fire smoldering in her normally welcoming brown eyes.
“Just to be clear, you understand that people will literally die,” Rebecca said, “because you are wasting my time?”
To Alex’s great surprise, Eerie just nodded.
“Well, that’s just great,” Rebecca said. “Now that we understand each other, which one of you would like to explain what the hell you have planned for tomorrow?”
Alex exchanged a glance with Eerie.
She looked afraid, and he discovered that he hated that.
“The Church of Sleep is supposed to show up tomorrow,” Alex said. “We are gonna send it into the Ether.”
“Is that a fact?” Rebecca took a pack of gum from her pocket. “How are you planning to do that?”
“I’m going to do it,” Alex said. “Gaul told me how.”
“Gaul Thule? The former Director, and current traitor and instigator of a civil war?” Rebecca put a piece of gum in her mouth and started to chew. “That Gaul Thule? You keep some interesting company these days, Alex. When did he provide you with this helpful advice?”
Eerie squeezed his hand underneath the table, but he ignored it.
He knew he couldn’t lie to Rebecca, so it was better to just come out with it.
“Earlier today.”
“Earlier today?” Rebecca laughed. “Where?”
“In Greenland.”
“Iceland,” Eerie corrected. “It was Iceland.”
“One question just leads to another,” Rebecca said. “How did you get to Iceland?”
“I probably shouldn’t say,” Alex said. “Ask Emily, okay?”
“I see. So the Thule Cartel has repaired their apport station at Hvolsvöllur? And they were willing to have you as guests,” Rebecca said. “That’s not a good look, Alex. Associating with the Thule Cartel.”
“We weren’t associating,” Eerie said. “Or anything else bad.”
“You be quiet for a little while, Eerie,” Rebecca said, with a tone that suggested it was not a request. “The two of us have a whole bunch of things I want to talk about, of course, but I think I already have an idea of what you are up to. Alex, on the other hand…I want to hear him try to explain himself.”
“I’m not sure what you want me to say,” Alex said, crossing his arms. “It’s like Eerie said. We weren’t guests. We fought with them, at first, or at least it seemed like a fight. Turned out to be an illusion.” Alex rubbed his head thoughtfully, running his fingers along the place where Egill had smashed his skull open, or at least appeared to do s
o. “Which was probably for the best, because we kinda got our asses kicked. Although, looking back on it, I’m not sure that Emily fought at all, so that might have been a factor.”
“I get the sense that you have no idea how ridiculous your life has become,” Rebecca said. “Or have you just gotten used to it?”
“The first person I saw die was a werewolf. The first normal person I ever saw die came back to life and tried to kill me. I think it would be stranger if I hadn’t adjusted.”
“Why did you think Gaul could help you?”
“Vivik told me he knew something.”
“Emily must have told him to tell you,” Rebecca said. “Interesting. How much of this plan do you think comes from her?”
Alex had to think about it, because the idea had never occurred to him.
This was not due to some sort of unwavering trust he had for Emily, because there was no such trust.
He simply did not think of Emily on the same terms as he did Rebecca, or Gaul, or Anastasia.
Though her single-handed takeover of the Far Shores should probably have sparked a rethink of that.
“Probably a lot,” Alex said. “She’s very smart, and she has a personal stake in this, so…yeah. A lot.”
“I’d imagine that’s pretty convenient for you, Eerie,” Rebecca said, her jaw working as she ground the gum between her teeth. “The way Alex is always looking at his ex when something unfortunate happens.”
“What are you trying to say, Ms. Levy?”
“I’m saying if Eerie had a firm hand on your life circumstances, then Emily Muir must have also been a part of that plan,” Rebecca said, staring hard at Eerie, who was turned so far away as to be sitting sideways on her chair. “You’ve upset the designs of the Hegemony and the Black Sun and a couple different Directors – do you really expect me to believe that you never saw Emily coming?”
Alex joined Rebecca in staring at Eerie.
She blushed, and then cleared her throat.
“I’m not talking,” she said, “because I was told not to.”
“Don’t be brat,” Rebecca said. “Go ahead and talk.”
“Emily is unpredictable,” Eerie said, “and sometimes mean, and sometimes very nice, and of all the people I’ve ever met, I understand her the least, even if we are friends, and I’m not always sure that we are.”
“Really? You outmaneuvered Gaul Thule.” Rebecca shook her head. “I find this hard to believe.”
“I find it hard to believe that you think I’d make a plan that involved my boyfriend dating Emily first,” Eerie said, her cheeks the color of stop signs. “I can’t see the future, and there are no sure things. I’ve done what I thought I could, where I thought it would work, and that’s it. Gaul and Anastasia and Emily messed up just as many of my plans as I did theirs, you know.”
“And now you want to destroy the Church,” Rebecca said. “Is that even possible?”
“It should be,” Eerie said. “Gaul said so. Why would he lie?”
“I don’t know, you silly girl,” Rebecca snarled. “Maybe he wants the Church to do whatever the fuck it is going to do?”
“Oh.” Eerie went pale. “That just proves my point, you see. I don’t know until I know. Knowing that I will know isn’t the same thing at all.”
“You think the Absolute Protocol can do this thing,” Rebecca said. “Have you considered what this might do to you?”
“Eerie was just worrying about that,” Alex said. “She’s worried I’ll fall asleep for a long time.”
“She’s right to worry,” Rebecca said. “Has she given you an estimate?”
“We were just talking about that,” Alex said, glancing at the Changeling. “She isn’t sure.”
“I doubt that. I’ve only got three staff left in Analytics, and it took them like five minutes to run the numbers, and they are working from a dorm lounge.” Rebecca turned her eyes back on to Eerie. “What do you think, Eerie? My guys came up with a big number.”
“Too long,” Eerie whispered. “That is what I was telling him.”
“Did you tell him how long?” Rebecca picked up Eerie’s fruit punch and spit her gum into it. “Because I heard around eighty years, give or take.”
Alex stood hurriedly, nearly toppling the table. He was hyperventilating, all color drained from his face, squinting with his good eye, while the other stared out into the middle distance, unperturbed and numb.
“What did you say?”
“I said a whole damn lifetime,” Rebecca said. “Are you starting to get it now?”
“You don’t have to be so mean!” Eerie had stood herself, clinging to Alex’s arm as she shouted. “You could just be nice!”
“It’s just an estimate,” Rebecca said. “Plus or minus five years.”
“It could be longer?” Alex turned his horrified look on Eerie. “It could be more than eighty years?”
“I told you this was a bad plan!” Eerie shouted. “This is why I wanted to go back myself, before you had to…”
“About that,” Rebecca said. “Mitsuru told me about what you did to her, and her protocol. Her new abilities seem to have been very effective against John Parson. That was a funny thing to do if you were planning to give yourself up.”
Eerie looked at Alex and shook her head frantically.
“I’ve changed my mind,” she said. “I was going to do…something else. Something bad, and mean, but it’s too hard. It’s always too hard! I always change my mind, and it’s always too late! Please, please, you have to believe me.”
“I want to, Eerie, I really do.” Rebecca rubbed her face. “I don’t think you understand the seriousness of this situation, kids. I’m not here as your friend and councilor, Alex, and I’m not…I can’t be whatever I usually am to you, Eerie.” The two women shared a long glance that was full of emotional import Alex knew he would never understand. “I’m here as Chief Auditor, and an Inquiry into this whole Church business is well underway. Both of you are targets for an Audit, I’m afraid, and you aren’t doing much to convince me otherwise.”
“Ms. Levy, you have to trust me,” Alex said. “I like you, I really do. I would never – we would never do anything bad to you, or to hurt Central.”
“I’d like to believe that,” Rebecca said, giving him a look that he was very familiar with, but had never seen from her before – the chronic disappointment he remembered from correctional officers and social workers, who knew he would fail and then lie about failing before he had the chance to do anything. “I’d also like to know if you had anything to do with the destruction of the Source Well?”
Alex froze, as if she might relent if he held perfectly still, but Rebecca waited him out.
“I did it,” he admitted, finally. “I’m sorry.”
“You’ve doomed Central. There’s no future for us, for anyone here.” Rebecca shook her head in disbelief. “What did we do to deserve that?”
“What?”
“Why did you destroy the Source Well?”
“This is going to sound bad,” Alex said, with total conviction. “Really bad, probably.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“Emily told me to,” Alex said, crestfallen. “She said that I’d be putting an end to all the death and stupidity, and the fucking travesty of the Academy and the Program. No more cartels, no more Administration. All the games would be over.”
“That makes perfect sense,” Rebecca said, smiling at him in an entirely unfriendly way. “Of course, no one can live in Central, or even get to Central, without the source of nanites that you’ve destroyed, so the rest is a bit of a moot point. How much do you figure that you can reform a society that has no future?”
“I, uh, I didn’t really think it through that far.”
“So not surprised. I’m curious, though, Alex. Did you happen to notice Emily taking some of the water from the Source Well for herself, right before you ruined everything?”
Alex shook his head, and then looked to Eer
ie for support. Eerie continued to avoid his eyes, staring into her lap instead with a dreary expression.
“I’m certain she did, because unlike you, she’s not a complete idiot,” Rebecca said. “John Parson – who Emily Muir at least used to work for, as I recall – has his own supply already. So, it’s just us that you’ve deprived of nanites. Our enemies will be just fine.”
“I didn’t know any of that,” Alex said. “How could I?”
“I don’t blame you for not knowing,” Rebecca snapped. “I blame you for freezing the Source Well just because your ex-girlfriend asked nicely!”
“I don’t like what you did to me, Ms. Levy,” Alex said. “I don’t like what Central does to the kids at the Academy.”
“Then use your damn words! Come talk to me! We could have worked something out,” Rebecca said. “We could have done something about it together.”
“I’ve been told you designed the Program,” Alex said. “I fucking hated the Program.”
“It might be cruel, but life is cruel. It was designed to keep you alive.”
“How many kids died last year because the Introduction didn’t take?” Alex realized he was shouting, and attempted, with mixed success, to stop. “How many the year before, and the year before that?”
“You think John Parson is going to stop coming after us? You trust Emily with the Far Shores? You’ve lost your mind if you do.” Rebecca shook her head. “What do you imagine the Hegemony and the Black Sun will do when they discover the Source Well is gone?”
“I didn’t think about any of that!”
Rebecca put her head on her hands.
“I have no idea how to apportion blame between you two,” she said, giving them a look of such disappointment that Alex felt instantly guilty. “You’ve destroyed a World Tree without orders, convinced Auditors in the field to desert, spent months in the Outer Dark associating with Anathema, and now you’ve destroyed the Source Well. Oh, and you are currently shacking up in an occupied facility, hijacked by Emily Muir, an enemy of Central and an Anathema herself. Do you two understand how serious this situation is?”
The Church of Sleep (Central Series Book 5) Page 74
