by Jade Alters
It’s always the same inside Thise’s office. No matter the time of day, season or year. It’s blisteringly hot. It’s barely lit by the glow of lava rivers around the rocky room. She waits at her desk while Bart, River and I line up beside Serge, Lee and Bryant. I wait for Stephanie to materialize for a few long seconds, along with Thise, before she eventually decides to begin the meeting.
“I apologize for the lateness of the hour,” Thise starts. “I feared if we waited until tomorrow, there wouldn’t be time. Bart has informed me that the situation at the Kyrie Stronghold has become tense, to the point where reconnaissance may soon be impossible.”
“Very soon,” Bart adds.
“What leads you to believe that?” Serge asks. I pick up on the slightest, dangerous edge of suspicion in his voice.
“During our last visit, I noticed some of Lucidous’ higher-ups trailing me around the Stronghold,” Bart explains. “I did my best to shake them, but they followed me all day. Magicians. I wasn’t sure I was free of their eyes and ears even here, until today.” Serge cocks an eyebrow at the mention of Magicians. I can almost taste pieces of the story missing here, but Thise concludes the debate with:
“Whatever the case may turn out to be, we need to err on the side of caution. I’d have waited for you to return from the Ahwahneechee Thanksgiving to send you, Cece, but since you’ve returned early…it’s best you and Bart return to the Stronghold tomorrow. Gain whatever there is left to gain in terms of intelligence. This will be your final visit.” The longer she goes on, the harder Thise’s words compress my lungs.
“Thise...there’s something we should report, too. Something that directly affects the situation,” I confess. The Dragonlord lifts her concerned eyes to me, at the sound of my reluctance, but River beats me to the punch.
“I got in a stupid fight with one of the other Shifters. Roran Deepcry. It escalated and…I…accidentally destroyed the Ahwahneechee Longhouse,” River tells her. She crosses an insecure arm over her torso to grab the other for comfort.
“You…destroyed… How did you get here?” Thise marvels.
“My parents covered for us while we ran,” River explains. For once, our news seems to be almost too much for the Dragonlord to handle. Thise has to prop herself up with two palms on her desk to think without losing her head.
“Did anyone…try to stop you? Was anyone killed?”
“No one died, as far as we know… Cece stopped me,” River explains. Thise’s eye settles on me with a new kind of curiosity I’ve never seen before. It’s mixed with suspicion and memory. Just what the hell she’s remembered or realized, I could only guess.
“When Chief Botan returns to the Academy…he’ll seek retribution for this. From both of you,” Thise mumbles. Her eyes trace something invisible ping-ponging across the top of her desk. Then it stops, as do her eyes. She pushes off her desk to sit up straight again, composed and somehow sure of what to do. How she does it is a mystery to me. “I will delay this as much as I can. This only expedites the process. Bart and Cece, get some rest tonight. You’ll leave for the Kyrie Stronghold first thing in the morning. The matter of the Thanksgiving Dinner will only serve to raise pre-existing tensions… We need to know everything about the Kyrie we can before things get out of hand.”
“Understood,” I lie, and give the Dragonlord a deep bow. I don’t understand a damn thing that’s going on. I don’t understand why one shifter would harbor prejudice against another for self-control difficulties. I don’t understand how an alliance of races with their own self-driven desires can hope to truly work together to find their Realms of Power. I don’t even understand how a Council, now of Four, can hold sway over an entire supernatural community.
For now, all I can wrap my mind around is that tomorrow, I need to talk to my father. I need to yank information out of him however I can on the last day we spend together off the battlefield.
Cece,
The Kyrie Stronghold, Dorian’s Suite
Bart and I split ways almost immediately again, when we get to the Stronghold in the morning. I find Dorian waiting for me in the fountain atrium. I watch my reflection follow him around the swirling pools at the base of the watery monument. I can’t picture so peaceful a place erupting into the sounds of battle. But, soon… I can’t let myself think about it now. If I want to get anything out of Dorian, guilt and questioning can’t be a part of it. It hardly helps that he’s got a face on that I’ve never seen before when he greets me with an odd silence.
Depression. Nervousness. I can’t imagine what could weigh on a man like Dorian like that. It makes me terrified for the first words that’ll leave his mouth, when he finally opens it. But he doesn’t. He only leads me on, silently, down the water-lined path to the Dragons’ Quarter. Past the Obsidian Cave, which is remarkably empty today, he turns down a few branching paths to a door with his name emblazoned on it. Dorian twists the knob and lets us into one of the nicest living quarters I’ve ever seen.
His couches are made from curvy, polished wood with lush pillows like emerald clouds. His floors are a white stone and crystal tile blend. A few gorgeous area rugs sit under his couches, tables and the appliances of his full kitchen and bar. He heads to that bar, pops open a bottle of Four Roses single barrel Bourbon, and pours two half-glasses. He downs one and refills the glass before coming over to the couch with one in each hand.
“Pays to be the guy with initiative, huh?” I chuckle as he puts the glass in my hand. Every little hiccup of laughter is little more than part of a mask to hide how terrified I am. I’ve never heard or seen so little from him. He even seems smaller, the way he hunches over his amber glass.
“In more ways than one,” Dorian tells me. He swirls the liquid around his glass while I sip mine. When I feel how smooth it is on my tongue, I take a big gulp. I have a feeling he’s not the only one who’s going to need it. Somehow, maybe through the Soul of Fire, I can sense it. All of a sudden, I know what it is. The same thing that’s been hanging between us since he told me his name. Why. “There are a few things I need to tell you, Cece. Things you probably don’t want to hear.”
“Need to tell me, or want to?” I ask.
“I…need to. Even if it ruins what we started here. Even if you hate me. This will always get between us, if I never tell you…what happened to your mother,” says Dorian.
“Happened… So she’s gone,” I gulp. “Like, just gone, or…”
“She’s dead, Cece. She died before you were born,” Dorian tells me. I squint at him while my brain twitches to connect two dots on two entirely different sheets of paper.
“She died…and then I was born?” I ask. If it wasn’t for the bags digging their way deeper into Dorian’s cheeks, I wouldn’t believe it for a second. But why would a lie hurt him so much?
“Yes. In an external womb,” Dorian says. “She was killed.” I wait for more, but it’s about all he can seem to get out without dumping a glass of bourbon down his throat. He refills his glass while I ask:
“Was it an accident?”
“No,” his voice cracks. Dorian’s glass hits the table. A little crack splinters up through the bottom of it. “She was assassinated by the previous Council.” The words tumble across my mind like marbles on piano keys. A cacophony of noise. It can’t mean anything. Certainly not the truth. It just can’t.
“Why…the fuck would the Council want to assassinate my mother?” I growl. After all his work getting me to trust him, all the bonding bullshit…I can’t believe he’d risk it all on this story.
“They didn’t. They wanted to assassinate you. They thought you were too dangerous to be allowed to live,” Dorian tells me. The crackle in his voice is almost more than I can take. My mind erupts into a civil war. He can’t expect me to believe this, claws over why is he so upset inside my skull in a never-ending contest for my heart.
“What… Because of my self-control issues? I mean, I used to be really bad, but…” I start. I can’t believe the words leavi
ng my mouth. They reflect none of the emotions colliding inside me directly. It’s more a collection of pieces of all of them that could only fuse into one sentiment: doubt. Could he really… “How could they even know-”
“It’s because your mother was an Astral, and so are you,” Dorian says, plain as day.
“What do you mean? You’ve flown with me, Dorian. You know what I am,” I counter. Dorian takes another long swig of bourbon. This time, I join him. Both our glasses clink down as he says:
“You’re a Dragon. You’re also an Astral, like your mother before you. It’s not something people thought was possible…but Astrals only Awakened in this Realm a lifetime ago. Ultrasounds showed your draconic body…yet you were able to move objects through possession, even in the womb,” Dorian tells me. The gravity of his voice only serves to make it all sound even more ridiculous.
“Funny how that stopped as soon as I was out of the womb,” I challenge him. Finally, a hole in his ridiculous ruse.
“Because I had a friend of mine conceal that part of you with a trick. Even from yourself. A trick so powerful, it took twenty-three years to wear off,” Dorian says. I open my mouth to object, but his voice fills the room now with his passion. He’s pleading with me, though he’d never say it. “I’ve seen it, in the Soul of Fire, Cece. I’ve seen what you can do… Your incredible gifts. You saved your friend last night with them.”
“Wha-what?”
“I was connected to you when you panicked in the Ahwahneechee Longhouse. I…I saw how you stopped River,” Dorian says. No, I want to scream. I want to shut him out. It was just the strength of our bond. That’s why she stopped, it has to be. “You asked her to stop, and she did. From a blind rage to sleep on your command. Because you possessed her. I’m sure you can think of other instances, lately. I’ve felt the aftershocks of your gifts before, but never seen them myself until last night.”
“My…gifts…” I mutter. That time in class, when I made Lee thrust against his desk… That dream Serge couldn’t remember, where I carried him away into the sky. There is a such thing as coincidence isn’t there? Lee just suffered some body echoes from the Soul of Fire. Serge and I fell asleep chatting, so we had the same dream.
But part of me already knows. I can feel it even now. The more I deny it, the more I feel the vibrations of energy in the air. The more I can taste the currents of energy around us in the Blue Plane. I’ve been so consumed with bouncing back and forth between the Academy and the Stronghold…I wouldn’t let myself feel it. And I can’t now. I’m a Dragon. It took me long enough to accept that. I’m a Dragon and an orphan. My father abandoned me. He doesn’t care. It’s all a lie!
“No…” I mutter. I shake my head.
“Cece, please. Just listen. Whatever you decide is up to you but-”
“No!” I scream. The lights in Dorian’s ceiling flare brighter. One of them pops and showers glass shards into the kitchen sink. I feel the shift in the air’s energy from it. ”No…” is my sole defense against all the evidence, even the crystal pieces raining down around me.
“Listen, Cece. The old Council arranged for your mother to die in a car accident. They t-boned us at an intersection downtown. I…I pulled the frame of the car apart to get to her, but…” Dorian’s voice leaves him for a moment. I take the chance to stand up from his couch. “But Stephanie was already gone!” he cries out.
“Steph…” I cough out, and almost vomit. No… I can’t even say it out loud anymore. I can only dash for the door.
“I brought her to Horace! He was able to pull you out and create an illusory womb for you! We hid you until you were ready to be born and gave you to an adoption agency,” Dorian squeezes in as fast as he can. I freeze with my hand on the door. Is this it? Is this the why? His great plea for redemption? “I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I had to give you up, Cece. The Council would never have relented in trying to kill you if they knew you survived the crash. I…I had to leave. But I never stopped keeping an eye on you. I waited so long…”
I feel horrible about the door slam that answers him. But it’s too much, all at once. I have to run. I have to get out. Out from underground. Out from the Stronghold. Out from this war between worlds I should never have stumbled into. But…it sounds like I might have been born without a choice.
“Whoa!” I crash into Bart at the mouth of the stronghold. I fear he’ll ask me about what happened, or try to force me back inside. Instead, the coldest of men I’ve ever held onto holds right back onto me. He leads me out under the stars and strokes my hair against his chest until I collapse from fatigue at last.
Lee,
The Broken Academy, The Dragonlord’s Office
“What is it?” I ask, when Thise calls me back to her office right after dismissing the ASTF meeting.
“That time you mentioned to me…about body echoes in the Soul of Fire… You say it happened directly after Cece told you to do something?” she asks. I clear my throat and do my best not to blush. I never explicitly told her what we were doing, or what Cece made me do, and I don’t intend to now. But she does look more worried than I’ve ever seen her.
“Yeah. Almost like she made me,” I admit. Thise lowers her head into the cradle of both hands. “Is…everything alright?” I ask.
“I’m not entirely certain, Lee,” says Thise. “Not anymore.”
Fumbling Path
Cece,
The Broken Academy
It was the first time I ever flew at night. It’s also the fastest I’ve ever flown. I don’t even remember getting from the Stronghold back to the Sierra Nevada Tether Teleporter. All I remember are the thoughts that raced through my mind. My supposed heritage. My mother. The Academy’s half-successful attempt on both our lives. Before I know it, I’m shooting up through a river of light into the Adjustment Lounge.
My feet materialize, already running. The soft thump of shoes on carpet can’t hope to keep up with my drumroll heartbeat. I burst through the doors and take a hard turn for D-Wing. I just need to get to my room. I need to sandwich my head between pillows to compress the rage of thoughts swirling around my mind. I might well need to scream. I almost do, when two hands grab my shoulders.
“Cece! What the hell is going on? Are you alright?” Lee asks me. His face seems to split into three separate, swirling echoes as my world spins madly around me. I want to tell him to move – I can hardly afford to try and sort through someone else’s feelings, while mine churn around inside so violently. But what if it’s true? The darkest part of my imagination wonders. What if I possess him again? What if I hurt him?
“I’m fine,” I tell him. My fake smile hardly has a chance to wobble across my lips before two creeks of tears slither down my cheeks. “I’m alright, Lee.”
“No,” Lee murmurs. He pulls me into his massive, muscular arms. “No, you’re not. Cece…I heard you screaming from outside the Academy.”
“Screaming? I didn’t…” I trail off when I realize, the Soul of Fire.
“Listen to me… I know you’re in rough shape right now,” Lee whispers. His gigantic hands slide down the outside of my hair, to the middle of my back. With each long stroke, the knots in my muscles pop out even tenser. They tremble in an attempt to relax at his touch. “But I need to warn you, before Thise calls… I…I told her something I shouldn’t have. I didn’t realize... Cece, I’m so so-”
“What did you tell her?” I sniffle up all the junk in my nose to ask with a straight face.
“I…I mentioned the body echoes…or what I thought were body echoes… Nothing specific, I swear, but…” Lee stumbles around the explanation. At every turn, he wants to tell me more, but his throat closes up.
“What you thought were body echoes?” I repeat. That means… “Then you know? That means Thise knows… Which means…” It’s true. I break from Lee’s grasp and turn on my heels. I shoot down the hall to the D-Wing dorms again.
“Cece, please! Wait!” I vaguely hear Lee’s voice behind me. It
’s part of another life. My second one, as a Dragon. Lee was the one that ended my first life, as a human - it seems only fitting he should be here now. I can’t shake the feeling that I’m on the cusp of its end, and the beginning of a new one. A third life as…something else. I hear Lee’s steps behind me all the way to my room. I throw the door open, take two steps inside, and freeze.
The lights are off, yet the room is bright. At the center of the room shines a piercing light like a flaring blue torch. I have to shield my eyes from it, until it shimmers down to a glowing outline of a shape. A body. I can tell, more clearly than ever before, that it’s a woman, inside. She turns around to face me.
“Steph…” I murmur, as my eyes climb up to her face. All hopes of fighting off the truth evaporate from my mind. I hardly hear Lee’s footsteps as he arrives behind me. The second he sees the two of us so close together, he’s stricken just as silent. Stephanie and I are like body and reflection, on opposite sides of a radiant mirror. The curve of her nose is slight, just like mine. Her cheeks have a tiny dimple in them, just like mine. Her eyes are a distinctly different blue from the rest of her, like two crystal balls. Her eyes shine wide at me. Then I recall what triggered her form to define itself so last time. “Do you…remember?”
“Cecelia,” Stephanie whimpers through a quivering lip. She crashes into me, arms locking around my back. I find, as I wrap my own around her, I can feel it all. She’s here. She’s been here all along. My mom.
“What…what do I call you?” I sniffle. I can’t grab onto her hard enough. I constrict her harder by the second, half-afraid she might dissolve away again.
“Steph is fine…unless you want to call me…” Stephanie can’t bring herself to say the word. The thing that death prevented her from being. The thing that a lack of memory kept an arm’s length away in the two years we’ve lived together. Mom.
