Incident 27

by Scott Kinkade

  They considered this for a moment. “That’s a good question,” Jaysin said.

  “It’s almost as if someone wanted to get our attention,” Daryn said.

  Jaysin’s eyes widened slightly. “You don’t think someone wanted to get us away from the Academy, do you?”

  “For what?” CiCi asked. “To attack us? Or to attack the Academy?”

  Daryn suddenly decided, “We’d better get back there ASAP.”

  They quickly left the Tru Republic. No one mentioned Ev and Maya being uncharacteristically quiet.

  Chapter V

  Freya met them as they entered the hangar. “How’d it go?”

  “Fine,” Daryn said. “We eradicated the refghasts. There were a lot of them, but of course they were no match for us. No casualties to report.”

  Freya furrowed her brow at the news. “That’s unusual. Thankful, but unusual nonetheless. Ev, you’re looking a bit pale. Are you all right?”

  Ev went passed her without saying a word and proceeded into the Academy.

  “I…uh…don’t think he’s feeling well,” Maya said.

  Suddenly Daryn declared, “Professor Freya, I suspect Maya and Ev are hiding something. They got separated from us during the mission and have been acting strange ever since then.”

  “Maya, is that true?”

  “I…” She looked away. “No.”

  Freya pursed her lips. “Perhaps you’d be more comfortable talking to me in my office.”

  “T-There’s nothing to talk about.”

  “The look on your face tells me otherwise. Please come with me, Maya.” Her tone left no room for argument.

  After they left, it was just Jaysin, Daryn and CiCi. “What d’you think’s going on?” Jaysin said.

  Daryn did not mince words. “I think Maya may have betrayed us again. Worse, I think Ev’s covering for her. Or maybe he’s in on it.”

  “No,” CiCi said. “She wouldn’t do that.”

  “Open your eyes! She’s already done it once.”

  Jaysin argued, “She learned her lesson. She’s not the same person she was before. Ev made sure of that.”

  There was silence for a moment. Finally Daryn said, “I’m not so sure about that.”

  * * *

  Ev sat on the couch in his dorm room contemplating what Arcturus Reich had said. It was night now, which meant no one could see the torment his face undoubtedly showed.

  Arcturus had told the truth. He knew far too many details about that horrible night to have been lying. He had turned Ev into a killer, yet was he to blame? Wasn’t it ultimately Ev’s decision to kill his father? This was his first time being on the other end of the Prayer Chamber, so he didn’t know how much influence the person inside had on him. He did know one thing for sure: without Arcturus’ intervention, he never would have picked up that knife, and his life would have been radically different.

  So the real question now was whether Arcturus was a demon or a saint. He had admitted to killing Heimdall, but he said the other god had attacked him. He couldn’t be blamed for acting in self-defense, right?

  Ev shook his head, conflicted. You’re just saying what you want to believe.

  So what if I am? I need some way to cope with this. Delusion is not the answer.

  What do you know?

  Suddenly, a different voice appeared in his thoughts. Hi, Ev.

  Arcturus?

  That’s right. I’m sending you a set of coordinates. When you tire of the Academy’s lies, go there. I’ll be waiting.

  There was a knock at the door. Ev turned on the light and answered. It was Freya. She looked concerned. “Hello, Ev.”

  “Hello,” he said, trying to act as if everything was normal.

  “I know,” she said. “I know you met Arcturus Reich.”

  “How…?” But of course, the answer was obvious. “Maya!”

  She appeared next to Freya in the doorway. “I’m sorry, Ev. She made me tell her.”

  “Don’t be made at her, Ev. She did the right thing in telling me. Arcturus Reich is a dangerous criminal.”

  We’ll see about that, he said to himself. “What he said—is it true?”

  Freya sighed. “Yes. It’s true. Years ago, he was a top student here. We had taken him in like we did with Maya. His situation was almost the same as yours. He had killed his abusive father in self-defense. The police found out and were on their way to take him into custody. Rather than have him go through the foster care system or worse, we recognized his god-potential and brought him here. However, that turned out to be a mistake.”

  “Did he not have a mother?” Ev asked.

  “He did, but he refused to talk about her, and she wasn’t there when we arrived. We honestly don’t know what happened to her.”

  He stared at her. “Tell me about Incident 27,” he said.

  Shrugging, she said, “There’s probably not much we can tell you that he didn’t. Like I said, back then, we used to let experienced students use the Prayer Chamber unsupervised. One day, Arcturus was bragging to his friends about how he had ‘saved’ a boy from his abusive father. Word got around to us, and we questioned him about it. He confessed—he was actually quite pleased with himself—and we expelled him.”

  Ev took a moment to take this in. “I see. And did you know I had god-potential back then?”

  She shook her head. “No. But after hearing Maya’s story, I’ve developed a theory. Arcturus has always had a particularly strong god-sense. I suspect he sensed your god-potential and later told Belial about it. Once Belial started stalking you, we realized you had the latent abilities necessary to become a god.”

  Something wasn’t quite right here. “But Belial tried to kill me, while Arcturus wants me alive. It doesn’t add up.”

  “Maybe Belial left him out of the loop as far as that part was concerned,” Maya suggested.

  “Perhaps,” Freya said. “But at any rate, Ev, you must have no further contact with him. He cannot be trusted.”

  Ev raised an eyebrow. “And you can?”

  “Look, I’m sorry we kept this from you. We weren’t sure you could handle the truth.”

  Ev let out a derisive laugh. “The truth? The truth that this school made me into a killer, that I’ll have to live with that for the rest of my life, that I can’t find peace? That truth?”

  Maya tried reasoning with him. “Ev, please…”

  “Go away!” he yelled.

  “Listen to me, Ev,” Freya said. “How can we move past this? What will it take for you to trust us again?”

  “What will it take?” He thought about that for a moment. “You can tell me what the Ark of the Covenant does.”

  “I’m sorry, Ev, but that’s classified. The Ark is a beyond-top-secret Artifact. You shouldn’t even know of its existence. And right now, it’s in the wrong hands. Please, if you know where it is, tell me.”

  So that was it, then. “Hmph. I don’t know where it is, and even if I did, I don’t know if I would tell you.”

  Freya turned around. “Fine. Come on, Maya. Let’s give him some time to think things over.”

  Maya’s eyes darted between the two of them. Finally, she left with Freya. Ev turned out the lights and returned to the couch. He sat there, alone with his misery—the worst kind of alone there was. They had lied to him, Maya had ratted him out, and he didn’t know how he could go on living at this place. After all, the people he thought he could trust turned out to be deceivers. He wondered what else they were keeping from him.

  It wasn’t long before he came to a decision.

  * * *

  After the mission briefing, Jaysin returned to the dorm and turned on the lights. Strangely, Ev was nowhere to be found. He had been conspicuously absent from the briefing. Did this have something to do with whatever was going on with him and Maya? Well, whatever; it was probably no big deal (he hoped). No, the important thing now was getting some sleep. He had earned it. Ev was probably just having a late dinner. He would com
e back soon enough.

  * * *

  But when Jaysin woke up in the morning, Ev wasn’t in his usual place on the bottom bunk. Usually Jaysin had to wake him up in order to get him to class.

  When Jaysin got to the class, Ev wasn’t there, either. So, instead of attending, he decided something was wrong and went straight to Freya’s office. He told her about it.

  “Oh, dear,” she said.

  “What’s going on, here? You’ve all been acting funny since yesterday. As his friend, I have a right to know.”

  “I think Ev may have run away.”

  “Run away? That some sort of joke?”

  “Look, I’m not sure I should tell you. It’s personal to him.”

  He wasn’t about to accept such a sorry answer. “I can help. Just tell me.”

  She thought about it for a moment. Then, “All right. I’ll tell you. But first—does Maya know he’s gone?”

  “I’m not sure. I haven’t talked to her since last night.”

  “Go get her. If we’re going to tackle this, we’d better do it together.”

  “Right, then. Be back in a flash.”

  He left and quickly returned with her. Freya explained the situation. Maya covered her mouth with her hand. “This is all my fault! I shouldn’t have betrayed him like that.”

  “You didn’t betray him,” Freya said. “Sooner or later, he would have confronted us about this anyway. You simply did what we asked of you. Instead of blaming yourself, help me find him. You both have his psychic frequency, correct?”

  “Yes,” Maya said.

  “Of course.”

  Freya nodded satisfactorily. “Good. Let’s call him.”

  They closed their eyes and honed in on the particular frequency Ev’s brain operated on. Ev, this is Professor Freya. Are you there?

  No answer.

  Ev, old buddy. This is Jaysin. Talk to me, mate.

  No answer.

  Maybe he’ll listen to you, Maya, Freya said.

  Ev, this is Maya. We’re worried about you. Please say something, anything.

  There was silence. Then: Go away.

  Ev, please, Maya said. I know you’re upset, but—

  He cut her off. You don’t know the half of it. You said you wouldn’t tell them. You lied.

  Freya jumped in. Don’t blame her, Ev. She only told us because she was worried about you. It’s our fault—us faculty members. We chose to keep an important secret from you. I see now that was a mistake. Please come back so we can talk this over.

  There’s nothing to talk about. Leave me alone.

  Ev, please, Maya said. Where are you?

  Somewhere far away from you. And for now, that’s where I’ll stay.

  There was a psychic click as he forcibly cut the connection.

  Freya sighed. “Well, that could have gone better.”

  “What do we do now?” Jaysin asked.

  Shrugging, she said, “Unless one of you wants to go looking for him, our only other option is to wait for him to cool off. Unfortunately, he can fly, which means he

  could have gone anywhere in the world.”

  “I have an idea of where he might have gone. I’ll go after him,” Maya said.

  “Are you sure?” Freya said. “If he’s not there, who knows how long it will take? You could end up missing a lot of class.”

  Maya’s resolution shown brightly in her eyes. “I’m sure. He came after me once. Now it’s my turn to return the favor.”

  “You need any help?” Jaysin said.

  “No. It’s my fault this happened to him. It should be me who makes it right.”

  Freya smiled encouragingly. “Good luck, Maya.”

  * * *

  He knocked on the door. Anni Bannen answered. “Ev! I didn’t expect you to return so soon.”

  “Sorry, Mom. Is this a bad time?” It was a little after noon in Morovia.

  “No, of course not. What happened?”

  He sat down on the couch and she pulled up a chair. He told her about his first official mission and the resulting inner turmoil. When he was done, he said, “And that’s when I decided to come home. I didn’t want to stay at the Academy anymore, and I didn’t know where else to go.”

  “Oh, Ev. You’re always welcome here. This is your home, after all. I just wish you would stop telling me stories that are hard to wrap my head around.” She laughed.

  “Sorry,” he said.

  “I was kidding. Anyway, what you’re saying is, you went to exterminate some monsters, and you met this guy, Arcturo—”

  “Arcturus Reich.”

  “Right, right. Arcturus Reich. And he said he’s the one who made you kill your father, even though he wasn’t actually here.” In regard to Anni Bannen, you could say one thing with absolute certainty: she was incredibly open-minded. Whether it was about gods or spontaneous human combustion, she would listen to anything you had to say and consider the possibility of it being true.

  “He was here, sort of. Inside the Prayer Chamber, you can leave your body and travel anywhere.”

  “Oh! Like a ghost.”

  “Yeah, that’s basically it. He came here to our house and pretty much whispered in my ear to…you know…” He didn’t want to finish that sentence. The memory alone was too painful.

  “It’s OK. You don’t have to say it. I think I understand. This man, he gave you a nudge towards doing it.”

  “I always thought it was my inner voice. I thought I alone shouldered the responsibility for doing it. Now I find out someone else made the decision for me, and I don’t know how to feel about it.”

  “Why did he do it?” she said.

  “From what I understand, he went through the same thing at one point. He seems to think we’re kindred spirits or something. But I really don’t know much about him.”

  She nodded her head as she took this in. “So in other words, he understands what it’s like to suffer at the hands of one’s father, and he wanted to save you from that.”

  “Yeah, Ev said. “Maybe. I don’t know. He wants me to meet him at a certain place to talk about creating a better world, whatever that means. I’m not sure I should go.”

  She reclined back in her chair. “I’ll tell you what I know. This man—Arcturus Reich—I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. Yes, he influenced you to do something horrible, but it was necessary. It’s my fault it was necessary because I was weak, and we’re not sure why he did it. But still, I’m alive today because of him and probably you are as well. Bethos only knows what your father would have done to you had he lived. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to meet with this Arcturus and see what he has to say.”

  “Bethos isn’t actually all-knowing,” Ev pointed out.

  “Oh. That’s too bad.”

  “Anyway,” Ev said. “You’re right. I need to find out more about Arcturus Reich, and the only way to do that is to go meet him. Thanks, Mom.”

  “You’re welcome. Just be careful. Arcturus may be a good person, or he may be something else.”

  “I’ll be careful. Don’t worry; I won’t commit to anything until I get a better understanding of him.”

  Ev said good-bye to his mother and left the house. It wouldn’t be long before someone from the Academy came looking for him, and he didn’t want to be found just yet.

  * * *

  Maya knocked on the door of the Bannen home. His mother answered. “Maya! It’s good to see you again. Have you come looking for Ev?”

  “Yes. Has he been here?”

  “He was here a little while ago, but he left.”

  Maya balled a fist. “Dammit; I’m too late. Do you know where he went?”

  “No, I don’t know where. I just know he was going to meet a man named Arcturus something.”

  Maya tsked angrily. “Arcturus Reich.”

  “Yes, that’s him.” She didn’t seem too concerned about this situation. Maya needed to change that.

  “What did Ev tell you?”

  Anni stared a
t her for a moment. “Everything.”

  “Listen to me. Arcturus Reich is a dangerous criminal. He’s already murdered one person that we know of. He can’t be trusted.”