by Ann Bakshis
“It still doesn’t explain why you left the compound,” Cody says as he puts his hands down.
“I was about to leave when a beeping sound filled the room. I searched all over for it, only to find it was coming from behind a panel in the wall in front of her desk. When I opened it, I discovered monitors displaying areas in the Aslu Territory; some of the sections I’d never seen before, except one. The remnants of the abandonment home were clear as day on the display, but from the outside. I could see into the top level, or what’s left of it, from what seemed like a mile or so away from the structure itself. As my eyes scanned the other screens I noticed one of them flashing red, with a message that said movement had been detected in Telus Mesa, but the only thing I saw was some strange animal scurrying across the cracked soil. I tapped the image to clear the alert like we do for the screens in the control center, but instead of disappearing it gave me an option.”
I pause because my mind is starting to work faster than my mouth, and I’m afraid I’ll stumble over the words as they come out.
“What was it asking?” Cody asks after too much silence has lapsed.
“It wanted to know if a bomb should be launched or not.”
Cody leans back as if I’ve become too toxic to be near. “What are you saying, Sara?”
“Andra has been the one launching the bombs. She’s the one who destroyed the abandonment home,” I reply, choking on my sobs.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“But where would she be housing the nukes? Myr said the surface is clear of them.”
“It is clear of them because they’re in the satellites,” I reply. “Andra came in the moment that request began flashing. She was mad when she saw me, and seized my arm before I could touch anything else. She then flashed a wicked smile and asked if I wanted a demonstration. I shook my head, but she commanded the satellite to launch a bomb anyway. It hit just a half-mile away from the mesa, incinerating vegetation that was trying to grow. I knew right then that I couldn’t be in a world with people like her. I needed out, so I left the compound—knowing full well she’d send a nuke after me. In fact, I was counting on it.”
Ten
“Maybe that’s why a bomb wasn’t launched when we went looking for you,” Cody says, his voice trembling. “It would be too suspicious for Andra to send another one, when almost the entire compound had been notified of our search. She couldn’t risk the exposure.”
“We need to get out of here,” I say, reaching for my still-damp clothes.
“How? If you haven’t noticed, we’re kind of dead.”
“There’s a way out, I just need to remember where it is,” I say, slipping into my shirt.
“Going somewhere?” the Arliss hisses, standing in the doorway with Haron behind him.
“Yeah, Cody and I are leaving,” I reply heatedly as I finish dressing.
“Oh, I don’t think so,” the Arliss says before snapping his fingers, which causes Cody to collapse to the floor, unconscious. “Not without me, that is.”
“You don’t need him,” I say, protesting. “I’ll get you someone else, just leave Cody alone.”
The Arliss ambles up to me while Haron remains in the hallway. “I wish I could, but he’s already made his choice,” the Arliss says, caressing my cheek. “Besides, I’ve just discovered that an old enemy of mine is up in your world, roaming around freely, trying to take control over your people for himself, and I can’t allow that to happen, now, can I?”
“Old enemy? I thought we were your only adversaries.”
“No, my dear. Once again, your leaders lied to you,” he says, turning his back to me as he steps away. “My true foe is a demon known as the Pheles. He’s cruel, possessive, manipulative, deceitful, and destructive. He’s also the fucking bastard who sealed me down here centuries ago. But, oh, how I relished the moment when the Levo entombed him in the Kai Mountains.”
“How do you know he’s returned?”
“I’ve seen him… through you, actually,” the Arliss says, spinning back around.
My head begins to pound, so I close my eyes and try to push away the truth of what I already know. “He has red eyes, doesn’t he?” I finally ask when I reopen my eyes.
“Yes, Sara, he does.”
“Does he need to take possession of a body like you do in order to traverse my world?”
“Yes.”
“When was he imprisoned in the mountains?”
“A few years after he placed me here.”
“Then how did he live this long? The body he had would’ve needed nourishment and then eventually die. There’s no way it can be the same one.”
“He’s immortal like I am, and there’s only one Pheles that I know of in existence. It’s your husband,” the Arliss says.
“But that’s not possible!” I yell. “When could the Pheles have taken him over? There isn’t any place in the compound that thing could’ve been hiding. Plus, Rinku was around long before Keegan was alive, so you have to be wrong. Something else has Keegan under a spell.” I sit on the bed and try to think of other ways the Arliss could be mistaken or lying, but nothing comes to mind. “You said the Pheles is possessive. How?”
“He latches himself onto one person for eternity. He becomes jealous over the littlest things easily, to the point of almost being abusive. If that person is mortal, he’ll make them immortal by any means necessary.”
“Like mark them? So when they die they wind up down here?”
“Exactly,” the Arliss responds with deep concern.
“From your tone of voice, I take it Keegan isn’t the one who marked me to come to the plateau.”
“Correct. He didn’t send you to me, but someone else close to you did.”
“Who?”
“Does it matter?”
“Hell yes, it matters!” I shout as I bolt up from the bed. “I want that fucker’s name!”
“I’ll give it to you once I’m in Cody’s body,” the Arliss says sternly. “And for that I’ll need your assistance.”
“You want me to help you kill Cody?”
“He’s already dead, Sara. We’re just moving him to the next world.”
“If his body is too badly injured to keep him alive, how is it going to support you?”
“It will, trust me,” he says, smiling wide. “Now, shall we get going?”
I don’t respond or move, as I’m trying to determine which is more important to me: finding out who sent me here, freeing Keegan from the Pheles, or trying to save Cody’s life. Guilt tears at my heart when I choose the first. Cody is a sweet kid, and he deserves better, but I have to know who wanted me reborn as an Arliss slave.
I need to know so I can kill them.
“Let’s go,” I mutter.
Haron finally steps into the room, picks up Cody, and cradles him in her arms as we head downstairs and out into the darkness. When we enter the conversion room, I notice the metal table is empty and clean. Haron did a thorough job of disposing of any sign that Tennison existed. She sets Cody down on the table and secures him to it, when a scream hangs in the air, radiating down through the skylight.
“I thought Cody and I were the only ones here,” I say as I turn to look at Haron.
“You are,” the Arliss responds, heading for the exit.
The three of us run towards the beach as the sun abruptly rises, signaling a new arrival. An older man in white is crawling out of the water with one arm held tightly to his stomach. He collapses into a heap, as his breathing becomes labored. Haron is the first to reach him and when she rolls him onto his back I immediately recognize him as the greeter from the Factory.
“Please help me,” the man moans, reaching to touch Haron’s face with a blood-soaked hand.
I glance at his wound and become immediately sick, seeing that his hand is the only thing holding his guts in. I step away and vomit while the Arliss begins bombarding the man with questions.
“You’re one of Ca
sey’s, aren’t you?” the Arliss asks heatedly.
“Yes,” the man responds weakly.
“That would explain how he got here,” Haron says.
“Who did this to you?” the Arliss asks a little more calmly.
“Wavern, the leader for Squad Eight in Rinku,” the man moans.
I spin around and sprint back towards them. “That’s a lie!” I shout. “Wavern would never do anything like that. Besides, he’s at one of the launch sites tending to the fireworks display that should still be going on, since only a minute or so has passed in my world. It takes over an hour to get through them all.”
“I’m telling you the truth,” the man whimpers, and he puts his hand back over his wound. “He caught me screwing his girlfriend, so he eviscerated me.”
“Wavern doesn’t have a girlfriend,” I state.
The man’s eyes bore into mine. “He does, Sara. He just hides it really well,” the man says.
“Should we help him?” Haron asks when the man passes out, barely breathing.
“No,” the Arliss responds. “Drag him to the wall and feed him to the wolves.”
She nods, puts her arms under the man’s shoulders, and begins hauling him away.
“What did you mean that he’s one of Casey’s?” I ask as the two of us return to the conversion room.
“Casey bit him, just like I did to you, making him hers for eternity. She’s got several men under her control, some of which I question her choices about.”
“And that automatically sent him here when he was killed?” I ask.
“Yes. You either have to be marked or bitten to follow the stream from the ether.”
“But Cody wasn’t marked or bitten, so how’d he wind up here?”
“He followed you.”
“But he got here before I did,” I say, protesting.
“He was more desperate to get to the plateau than you were, so he arrived faster.”
“How do you get marked?” I ask once we’re back under the skylight.
“It’s a trick the Nathair learned from me when I was resurrected.”
He turns and places a hand on the back of my head just behind my ear. His fingers gently rub over a tiny spot by my earlobe and that’s when I feel it, a rise in the skin. I reach up to touch it with my finger. When I realize what the impression is, I bring up my left wrist and stare at the spider tattoo.
“How…how did this get on me?” I ask, my voice shaking.
“I told you, it’s a trick I taught the Nathair. How else was I going to know who to convert?” he comments and winks.
“The Nathair are dead, made extinct by the war, so how did this make it onto my skin?”
“One Nathair made it to the safety of the abandonment home,” he says slyly. “Thanks to Keegan’s grandfather who, by the way, only led those from Comhar over the mountains. He let the Levo perish. It was a miracle that many of them found their way to the abandonment home without his guidance.”
“So the person is a Comhar descendant?”
He nods. “And a very influential one at that.”
Andra… it has to be Andra.
“He’s been disposed of,” Haron says, joining us as the sky showing above the room goes dark.
“Good,” the Arliss says happily. “Now, let’s get this over with.”
He steps over to the far wall and presses on a rock that juts out oddly from the rest. A piece of the rock slides away, revealing a niche containing a green-colored stone covered in antiquated symbols. I immediately recognize one of them as the tattoo on my wrist, but there are at least a dozen others all spread out evenly along the smooth surface.
“What is that?” I ask as the Arliss brings the rock, which is the size of a fist, over to the table.
“It’s called a Degrem Stone,” he replies, setting it beside Cody’s body. “All the symbols represent the different creatures that have called this world home at one time or another. This is my symbol,” he says, pointing to the spider. “It’s what I instructed the Nathair to use when I was reborn. This one over here is the Pheles symbol.” He turns the stone over and points to a grouping of stars in a pentagram formation. “The other creatures have long been extinct, so there’s no need to explain any of those to you.”
“What do you do with the stone?”
“It merges souls into other bodies, but I need a follower to assist me with it since I can’t do it on my own,” he says.
“Why can’t you have Haron help you?”
“Because I want you to learn how to work the stone,” he says curtly. “Once I leave this plateau, Haron will cease to exist and I’ll be in need of a new assistant if something were to happen.”
“But you can’t die, so why would you need me?” I ask crossly.
“I can’t, but the body I possess still can. And in order for me to move into a new host I need an assistant, which will be you,” he says, narrowing his eyes. “Now, enough with the questions and stalling.” He places the stone in my hands and instructs me to set it on Cody’s chest. “All you need to do is press and hold the spider image until I’ve entered the body. The symbol is burned into my soul, so the stone knows it’s me it should transfer. Your mark is simply superficial.”
He disrobes and grows impatient when I don’t push on the symbol right away, so Haron has to step over and force my finger down. The stone glows a bright green, followed by an energy surge that grabs the Arliss, pulling him into Cody’s body. The stone grows hot, becoming almost unbearable to handle, but Haron keeps her grip on me to make sure I don’t let go. I cry out in pain as the stone goes from green to red, and my flesh begins to blister. I try to push Haron away but she’s pressed herself against me, forcing me into the side of the table.
“Let me go!” I holler.
“Not yet. It’s almost complete,” Haron says calmly.
A shockwave escapes the stone, releasing my hand, and the glowing ceases. Haron takes possession of the stone as Cody’s eyes begin to flicker. He takes a deep breath and then slowly exhales.
“Ah, it feels so good to be human again,” the Arliss says, using Cody’s voice.
“How could you do that to him?” I yell as I raise my hand, which I’ve balled into a fist. I swing to hit him, but his hand comes up surprisingly fast and stops me.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he says as he squeezes my fist, breaking my fingers in the process.
I scream and back away, cradling my disfigured hand.
“Put that back for me, Haron,” the Arliss says as he slides off the table. He grabs my arm with such force that my shoulder pops. He pulls me out of the conversion room, practically dragging me to the shore of the lake. He shoves me into the water and holds my head under for several seconds. “Now, are you going to give me any trouble?” he asks as he lifts my head up and pushes me aside.
“No,” I say, trembling.
“Good, because if you do I’ll kill you in your world, and without me in the plateau, there isn’t a stream to get you back in here, so you’ll be dead for real.” He starts to retreat to his dwelling, then stops. “Don’t move until I get back. I need to finalize a few things before we leave.”
I sit on the sand and try to calm myself down as he disappears below the set of boulders on the opposite side. I wasn’t expecting him to be so strong in a human body. If he’s like that in his world, what will he be like in mine? There’s no way to prevent him from getting into my world now. I’m on the verge of tears, when Haron sits beside me.
“How could you let him do that?” I sob.
“He’s my master, Sara, just like he’s yours.”
“But now you’ll die when he leaves. Is that really something you want?”
“Of course not,” she snaps. “However, it’s what he wants. He’s tired of being trapped down here and, frankly, so am I.”
“He told me that if I now die up in my world, I can never come back here. Is that true?” I ask, trying to gain control over my emotions.
“Yes. The Fomorian Plateau is his realm and he controls everything that happens within it. According to the Arliss, he’s the only being who can return to the plateau before another deceased creature can set foot here,” she says, then leans very close to me. “But there’s another way in that he purposefully neglects to mention. One mortals can use while still alive.”
I look at her, surprised, but I keep my mouth shut and just let her talk.
“When you get back to your world, follow the wolves. They’ll lead you to the portal that’s been kept open for the past sixty years.”
“The one the historian unlocked?” I ask.
She nods. “Because a Nathair descendent survived the war, that portal has remained open, which is how the wolves have been able to traverse between the two realms. When the Arliss returns to your world, the portal will stay open no matter what. It won’t close until the Arliss, in his human form, and his followers, are dead. He’ll be sent back to the plateau while the others flow into the ether, until the very end.”
“What would happen if the Nathair is killed?”
“As long as the Arliss is out of the plateau, that portal will remain open even if the Nathair dies.”
“What about the Pheles? Is he connected to the plateau?”
“That, I don’t know,” she says, sounding perplexed at the question. “Possibly, since his marking is on the Degrem Stone. That’s what binds everything together down here.”
“So, without the stone, the Fomorian Plateau would cease to exist and the Arliss wouldn’t have a way to return. He’d die,” I say, becoming excited by the thought.
