Totem of Aries

by D. N. Leo

  “I’m not a klutz. It’s these stupid heels. I hate them!” she muttered to herself. She barely hit five foot two. People always said good things came in small packages. But she didn’t believe that to be true in her case. She wore high heels to compensate for her lack in height, but she much preferred her chunky platform boots to these pointy heels because it was easier to hide lethal weapons in them. Her appearance and outfits had landed her a portfolio of high-action cases. Well, high-action was her term. Cooper, her business partner, called them violent cases.

  Her wrist unit buzzed. “Engage,” she said. On the screen, Cooper came on. Speak of the devil, she thought.

  Cooper blinked his striking blue eyes, looked at her with a grin, and held a flask up to the screen.

  “No, Cooper, the compound needs to stay in the flask for one more day.”

  “I think it’s ready. I’m going to try it.”

  “Don’t you dare. If you mess up my experiment, I’ll tell your girlfriend your abs are fake.”

  Cooper frowned. “That’s a nasty threat!”

  “You didn’t work for those muscles! You used my chemical! As far as I’m concerned, they’re fake. But that’s not why you called. So what do you want?”

  “There’s a job in Xiilok—”

  “No, Cooper. We talked about this. We don’t take jobs from Xiilok.”

  “But this one is easy, and it’s lucrative.”

  “You can take it, but I won’t.”

  “We’re pals, Dinah. Come on…help me out. It’s just a delivery. It’s easy. But on the delivery end, the chemical has to be put together, and I don’t know jack about chemicals.”

  “What kind of chemical?”

  Cooper rolled his eyes. “If I knew the answer to that question, would I be asking you? I have the specs of the merchandise. Do you mind taking a quick look and seeing if we can handle it? It pays thirty thousand credits.”

  “How much?”

  “See, I told you it’s lucrative.”

  “There has to be a catch. Why us? We’re not known for delivering merchandise.”

  “It’s not the delivery…it’s the assembly. They said they need someone who knows chemicals. And you do have a reputation for that.”

  “Let me think about it.”

  “Oh, come on! I’ll give you seventy percent of the fees. I’ll buy you breakfast every day for a whole year. I’ll—”

  “I said I’ll think about it. I’ll get back to you tomorrow, okay?”

  “Promise? It’s important. I need ten thousand credits, Dinah. I need them.”

  “Why? You don’t need many credits to live in Iilos.”

  “A guy I know found a way to migrate to Eudaiz.”

  “What’s wrong with Iilos?”

  “Nothing. But Eudaiz is everyone’s dream. Don’t you want to live there?”

  “I don’t daydream. Plus, Eudaiz doesn’t take people based on wealth.”

  “I know. So when this guy finds a way, it costs.”

  “He’s conning you.”

  “Well, I don’t want to have regrets for not trying. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  “Okay. Yes, Cooper.” She hung up. A group of women walked past her. One of them was more than six feet tall. She wore a bright orange dress and raised her voice as she said, “If they think we’re just going to go home without a refund, they’re crazy. I paid twenty credits for my ticket.”

  Another woman said, “Consider yourself luckier than Kate Windsor. She died with her ticket in her hand. Those credits aren’t worth your life!”

  Dinah rushed toward the woman. “Excuse me, what happened up there?”

  The one in the orange dress looked her up and down and then said, “We were lining up in the cloakroom. The woman in front of us swiped her ticket. The screen shouted out her credentials, and then boom, she fell to the floor—dead.”

  “It must have been a heart attack,” the other woman added.

  That was all she heard. She kicked her shoes off and charged up the hill. She refused to believe what she had just heard. It could be a mistake. These strangers didn’t know Kate. Her friend was young, fit, and strong. She couldn’t be dead for no apparent reason. She called Kate’s phone, but there was no answer.

  A large area in front of the theater had been barricaded. She sneaked into an emergency tent and saw a thin white suit hanging inside. She grabbed the suit and put it on, sliding on a pair of plastic shoes to cover her bare feet. Taking a small medical toolbox with her, she headed toward another section of the secured line.

  Two individuals wearing heavy blue suits and large plastic face masks moved in the same direction. She followed closely behind them, matching their stride.

  The three moved into the plastic tunnels. She broke off from the two and quickly made her way toward an open tent at the north end. The tent was made of clear plastic walls and was stuffed with people wearing both suits and regular clothes. Computers and other medical gadgets were set up all around the tent. There was a lot of commotion.

  The interior of the theater filled with pale yellow smoke. A first grade guard tapped her on the shoulder. “Medical staff aren't allowed,” he said.

  “But I was called here.”

  “Detective Tanner said we don’t need any medical staff. We need the troops.”

  “But he called me. Can I just go in and talk to him?”

  “No, he left for headquarters.”

  Dinah waved her arms in the air. “A woman had a heart attack, and medical staff aren’t allowed in? What are you talking about?”

  The man lowered his voice. “Kate Windsor exploded and killed five others. It’s a crime scene.”

  “Exploded? I didn’t hear any explosion.”

  “It wasn’t like a bomb. I wasn’t allowed inside, but Detective Tanner said the area was contaminated with some kind of toxic chemical. They’re trying to get the people who were exposed but left the theater back to the tent.”

  “I saw them down the hill. Three women. One in a bright orange dress. She was talking about being in line next to the victims.”

  “Really?”

  There was shouting outside, and the first grade guard to whom she was talking was called on his communicator. “Damn it, more dead people!” he muttered. “Oh, by the way, do you have an ID on you, doc?”

  “Huh?”

  “May I scan your wrist unit for an ID?” His communicator shouted out again. “Oh, damn it…”

  “I told you the three women were heading to the south gate. Go get them before more people die.”

  He nodded and turned on his heel. As soon as he was out of sight, Dinah darted over to the transparent wall and peeked inside. She couldn’t see into the cloakroom, but she spied a red high-heeled shoe on the floor close to the door. The shoe was unmistakably Kate’s. They had each bought a pair while shopping in town together last month. Swallowing a lump in her throat, she shrugged off the white coat and ran out of the tent.

  Chapter 3

  Arik walked along the cobblestone path toward his office building at Oxford University. The sun hadn’t yet come up, but he was always early for his lecture. It wasn’t because he needed to prepare for his class. He had taught this subject for many years, and by now he could give the lecture with his eyes closed. But he loved the tranquility of the campus before sunrise. The early hours in his office were precious to him. A couple of hours later, when students and colleagues arrived, that tranquility would vanish as if it had never existed.

  Blues beats and lyrics played in his mind. Black cat crossed my trail. He shook his head, trying to brush Rod Stewart’s “I Ain’t Superstitious” out of his mind, but the song kept playing as if it wasn’t in his mind but in the air around him. It was strange. It wasn’t even his favorite song.

  In the distance, in the dark, he saw a pair of green eyes looking at him. He couldn’t see the shape of the animal at all. Just those green eyes. They had to belong to a black cat because its body blended into the darkness. Fo
r some unknown reason, he just assumed it was a cat.

  He blinked. The eyes blinked. Blinked, and blinked again. Then they vanished.

  I need my morning coffee, he thought. He shook his head to brush off the uncomfortable feeling he got from the sound of the songs. Sometimes music triggered painful memories he would rather forget.

  “Professor Bonneville,” said a squeaky female voice. He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard it. It had come from behind a small bin and some stacked-up tables next to a closed café. From out of the shadows stepped a young female—a student, he assumed—with haunting eyes. Arik shook his head. There was a strange shade in her dark eyes, but like her face, her eyes were youthful.

  “Yes,” he said. He pulled up the collar of his coat to block the cold breeze nipping the skin behind his neck.

  The young student tucked a stray lock of sandy hair under her beanie. “Don’t be afraid,” she said.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “It will pass.” She grinned, showing a row of uneven, black front teeth.

  “Afraid of what? Who are you?”

  “You don’t need to know who I am. I have a message for you.” She reached her arms forward.

  When Arik saw her hands had turned into claws, he jumped backward. His left shoe came down on the slippery, uneven edge of a stone, and he almost toppled over.

  “I’m sorry,” the girl said again and reached further to pull him in toward her. Fangs appeared in her mouth, and she bit into her bottom lip.

  Arik pushed her away from him. A stream of blood ran down from her forehead. He stepped backward again and tripped on another stone. He felt his left ankle twist. “Damn it,” he cursed.

  “I’m sorry.” The girl stopped moving forward. “I’m so sorry, professor!” she cried, her voice no longer squeaky.

  “This is a stupid prank!” Arik growled.

  A wave of loud laughter came from the back of the building. A male student’s voice said, “You’ve got it, Lucy. You’ve got him.”

  Lucy waved her arms frantically. “I’m sorry, professor. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt. It was an accident. It was just a dare…” She turned around to run and stumbled over an empty box on the ground. Arik grabbed her elbow just before she fell face first into some trash cans. Her beanie fell, along with a wig, a tube of fake blood, and her fangs.

  “Thank you. I’m so sorry…” She twisted out of his grip and scrambled toward the back of the building.

  “I know you’re from the New Theater group. I’ll talk to your professors!” But Arik was speaking to the cold air. The group of students had already disappeared into the darkness, their laughter trickling behind them. Arik wanted to curse. He wanted to call campus security. But what would be the point?

  His morning tranquility ruined, he limped toward his office. He wouldn’t do any work this morning. Instead, he’d make himself a cup of coffee and read the news on the Internet.

  The coffeepot let out a soft whistle when it reached the required temperature. He left his desk and went to his credenza. He poured coffee into a mug, inhaling the aroma of his unique blend, and took his first sip of the day.

  Before the rim of the coffee mug touched his lips, a hairy black spider leg reached over the rim from the inside of the mug. He yelped and dropped the mug to the floor. Coffee splattered everywhere. And there was no spider.

  “Are you all right?”

  He turned around and saw Peter standing at the door.

  Arik fixed his tie. “Yes, I’m fine. The mug just slipped out of my hand. You’re starting early today, Peter.”

  Peter smiled. “I have to catch up with marking papers. I promised the students some feedback today. Nice scarf.” He pointed to a scarf on the desk.

  Arik chuckled. “It’s Grace’s. I’ll give it back to her tonight.”

  “Oh…someone has a date. That’s why you’re jumpy!”

  Arik said nothing. He grabbed some paper towels from a cabinet and started to clean up the coffee spill.

  “You’ve been going out with her for…what? Over a decade?”

  “Five years.”

  “But who’s counting? When are you going to pop the question?”

  Arik stood up and glared at his colleague. “Since when did you become so nosy?”

  Peter shrugged. “Since when did you lose your sense of humor?”

  “You can’t lose what you never had. Plus, there’s nothing funny about this.” He gestured at the mess the coffee had made on the carpet.

  “No, you’re right. It’s not funny at all. Look at your desk!”

  “That’s a vintage piece of furniture! Not like that veneered desk of yours!”

  “The cheap piece of furniture you just referred to isn’t mine. I don’t decorate my workplace with my own furniture the way you do. There’s never a single speck of dust on your desk. Those coffee stains must be driving you insane!”

  “I can manage.”

  “You don’t really have a choice. Okay, I’m going to get back to my own business now. Say hi to Grace for me.” Peter scurried out of Arik’s office.

  Chapter 4

  Dinah rushed into her office and slammed her palm on the control panel to activate the computer. The computer woke and verified her credentials. She glanced out of the window and saw flakes of white snow starting to fall. Kate loved the snow. Because Iilos controlled the climate and kept it at a perfect level, there was no such thing as snow here. But white snow was Moira’s fantasy, a reminder of her homeland. And so they had created something to mimic it.

  She shook her head. Would death be artificial, too? When those native to Iilos died, their bodies disintegrated into light particles and were absorbed by an object of their choice. They called it the resting place of an individual’s essence. But that wouldn’t happen for outsiders like Kate and her.

  The computer let out a gentle sound, suggesting it was ready to operate. She turned on the news screen and frowned. There was no breaking news about what had happened at the theater.

  She turned on another screen and logged in. She typed in a code and began to surf the police database—another thing that came in handy and Cooper didn’t know about was that she was an ass-kicking hacker. She was searching for Detective Tanner, but the system was asking for a passcode. Dinah sighed. It took time to crack codes. She set the machine to run on autopilot and headed to her bedroom.

  Her apartment was small enough that it took her only three strides to get to her room. She needed to go back to Xiilok. She wanted to tell Kate’s family the news in person. She stuffed her travel pass into her backpack along with a few essential items.

  When she opened her closet door, a pair of red high-heeled shoes fell down from the top shelf. She picked them up. Kate detested her masculine boots and fashion sense and always peppered Dinah’s clothes collection with as many feminine items as she could.

  The evening’s events had happened too fast, and Dinah’s brain hadn’t yet digested the information. Her friend was dead? She refused to believe that until she saw the evidence. A shoe lying on the floor at the theater door could mean anything.

  Her computer uttered a happy jingle. She rushed toward it. Access granted! The little hacking program she’d written a while ago actually worked and had performed its magic. Dinah dropped her bag on the floor and dove into the keyboard.

  In no time, she was inside the working files folder of Detective Tanner’s computer. She flicked through the crime scene photos. Although she’d heard no explosion, the interior of the cloakroom looked like a war zone. Five bodies were on the ground, distorted into unrecognizable shapes by the heat of the fire. It looked as if the bodies had been melted.

  And then she saw Kate’s black velvet dress, her favorite.

  Dinah’s tears flowed freely.

  Her best friend was really dead.

  Kate was like her sister, the only person she knew and trusted in Iilos, and even in the multiverse. The thought of being left by herself in the vas
t multiverse was terrifying.

  After the grief hit her, Dinah felt her blood boil. She understood that she and Kate were outlanders in any universe. They weren’t asking for any rights. But Kate’s death was undignified. Her body had been mangled and distorted, and her essence had been lost. Her friend deserved better. Lady Iilos had sworn to the multiverse she would make all creatures equal. This was the time. She would ask for her friend’s body, regardless of the shape it was in, so it could be properly buried.

  It was a crime scene, so they would want to keep the body for investigation. But she would fight. She would get Kate’s body back at any cost.

  She flicked through pictures. The close-up, graphic photos of the body parts were disturbing. She touched the screen when she saw a close-up photo of the mark below the nape of Kate’s neck. She saw the round shape of multiple circles, one inside the other, branded on her skin. It wasn’t a meaningless tattoo. It was the mark of a jumper—the word they used to describe those who had jumped through the aperture of the multiverse.

  Dinah absently touched the mark at the back of her own neck.

  She flicked to the next photo.

  Very few people in the multiverse knew about this mark. Detective Tanner must have been curious because he had taken several pictures of it.

  Wait!

  Dinah flicked back to the previous picture. That was Kate’s mark. She flicked again to the next one. Although the body was distorted from the explosion, she was damn sure that wasn’t Kate’s neck she was looking at. She zoomed in on the picture. It was definitely the mark of a jumper.

  Another jumper at the same crime scene? It was almost impossible. The odds of having two total strangers who were both jumpers at the same location was as rare as the occurrence of the aperture.