“Do not be a fool, Dakarai. You know why we’re here, and what we need to accomplish.” The man turned his attention to me. “Jasper, I’m sorry for this poor reception and their appalling manners. I trust your accommodations were comfortable.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Yes, thank you. Everything has been quite lovely.” Mikael vibrated with un-vocalized laughter and pinched my arm. I could almost hear his voice in my head saying, “You’re so full of crap, Jasper. You’ve hated every single moment you have been here.” Instinct told me that if he had a notebook in front of him, Mikael would scroll notes to me with the hopes of making me laugh.
“Wonderful. Now, onto our present agenda. We have assembled the High Council and the Circle here today because the existence of the Order, our mission and our members have been threatened. You, Jasper, are being included because we believe you are the weapon we need to end the threat from at least one of these unknown entities.”
Too many questions danced on the tip of my tongue but before I could ask any of them, Mikael cut his head to one side, a silent warning to listen and observe before I spoke. My fingers twitched in his hand, recognition, and acceptance, and his grip relaxed.
The woman to the left of Mr. Talking Head smiled. There was no warmth or humor in her expression. “I’m sure you have questions, Jasper. However, we may not have time for those answers. We trust you to act on our behalf with the little information we provide.”
“Wait. What?” I blurted. “You brought me here because you think I’m a weapon against some evil conglomerate that you can’t identify? And you want me to blindly follow your orders?” I laughed bitterly. “You clearly don’t know me. I’m not your lemming ready to go off a cliff.”
Talking Head scowled. “You are a child of the Vespers,” he scolded. “You are subject to the rule of the High Council and therefore required to do as directed.”
“Well, screw you, buddy. I didn’t know you existed until a few days ago. Therefore, unless you start talking, I will make it my sole purpose in life to disrupt your days and otherwise make your life miserable.”
The woman who had just spoken put a restraining hand on Talking Head’s arm. She returned her attention to me. “What do you mean? No one from the direct line grows up unaware of the Order of Vespers.”
I crossed my arms and tilted my chair back. “Well, apparently it’s happened. I don’t know who or what the Order of Vespers is, nor do I know or care about this direct line. Bottom line it for me, big guy.”
✽ ✽ ✽
“Impossible,” Talking Head spluttered. “You are of the direct line. Your family should have primed you to become a member of the Circle, you and your siblings.”
The mention of my dead siblings stoked the fire inside me, the one that Dakarai must have felt only moments ago. I leveled Talking Head with a stare and held his gaze until he blinked. “My siblings? Were we supposed to be groomed for Circle? How? Why? Start from the beginning.”
No one spoke.
“Please,” I begged, hating the desperation in my voice. “If I’m as important as you’ve implied, isn’t it only fair that you give me some background?”
There were seven members of the High Council and only one of me. I should have felt fear, but I was curious about these anonymous people. Were they sheep who were elected to the Council for easy votes? And where did this woman stand in the hierarchy of things? Was her purpose to support their leader? Did she use gentle persuasion to achieve her goals? More disturbing, were these the people who gave the orders for my kidnapping? Were they so committed to their mission that I would be confined to the complex?
Dakarai spoke in a low voice. “She doesn’t know. Her family decided several generations back to deny their heritage. They wouldn’t be the first.”
“It’s more likely that they wanted to shield their line and protect their progeny,” Jordan remarked. “As she said, Jasper is ignorant of our traditions and our purpose. We’re asking much of her with little in return. We owe Jasper a piece of her history.”
Annoyance flashed over Talking Head’s face, but he did not dismiss the request. “Jordan is correct. We will ask much of you, nay, everything of you. It is only right to bestow upon you the knowledge of for what you fight.”
My eyebrows shot beyond my hairline. “I have a choice? Huh, I didn’t expect that.”
This guy hated me. His face was mottled red and his fists clenched and unclenched. He spoke through gritted teeth. “We will tell you the history of our people. There is one condition.” Talking Head held up a hand before I could respond. “Take notes if you will but be quiet. Listen. And most importantly, don’t interrupt.”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever.” I extended my free hand in a sweeping gesture. “Shall we?”
Talking Head nodded, appeased. “Yes, well, my name is Charles. I’m the leader of the High Council of the Order of Vespers. In this capacity, I ensure that the Order stays true to its purpose and oversee our activities.” He nodded to the woman on his left.
“My name is Miriam, child. I know the last few days have been difficult, and I wish I could promise you respite, but the storm isn’t coming. It is here.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. Just a few sentences into this explanation and I already had a million questions. I nodded and tried to smile as if their condolences were worth anything.
The next person spoke. “My name is Liliana.”
“Marcus.”
“Yurina.”
“Ivan.”
“Carlo.”
“Thank you,” I murmured. I knew I would forget their names momentarily, as there wasn’t much difference between them physically, and they didn’t say anything to distinguish themselves from each other. My eyes went back to Charles.
He cleared his throat. “In the beginning,” he intoned. “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Y
OU’RE JOKING.” MY HEAD swiveled from one end of the table to the other and back. “Right?”
Jordan shook his head, but I could see him fighting a smile. Mikael’s eyes were wide, and he cringed as if I just summoned the wrath of the gods. If hell and damnation were going to be rained down upon me, he was going to move the hell out of the way.
Talking Head pressed his lips into a thin line, flexing that hand several times until he managed to control himself.
In the beginning of this tale, Talking Head considered smiting poor little Jasper.
At least someone found this amusing. I planned to have a serious talk with Her as soon as I got out of the Bat Cave and had time to think. She hadn’t exactly been helpful the last few hours. Look and listen. That wasn’t my idea of good advice, nor had it worked in my favor: protector, my butt.
“Yes, this is where the story begins. It’s also where the story will end. Keep in mind, although you’ll hear much that is familiar, this theological and philosophical territory is largely unrecognized by major religions.”
Charles paused, and I realized he was waiting for me to interrupt. When I said nothing, he continued. “According to the legend, the boundary was created. This boundary represents an entity whose real name cannot be uttered: Il Separatio, or Annonnimus.”
Miriam picked up the narrative. “This entity was regarded as perfect and absolute neutrality. What makes this dangerous, and relevant, is that the concept provides a third entity midway between God and the Devil. The medieval church, no church, wants to introduce competition, not when its people are so invested in a system that benefits them. Nor did they want to permit a discussion of which entity is the strongest—God or Il Separatio.”
Her hypnotic voice transported me to the place of imagination where her words came to life before my eyes. “Our history pre-dates the written word, but the first mention of us occurs in the Middle Ages.”
I snapped my fingers. “When I was
outside and touched… there was a figure in black who said something about Black Knights. That I was the fi… an important Knight and my actions were now outside of the flow of morality because I would help maintain the cosmic balance.”
The silence that followed was pregnant with validation of this vision and a desperate urge to press me for more details.
“There was a lot I didn’t understand,” I admitted. “Something about liminality and Gnosticism. He told me to read a book.”
“Well, that’s a first,” Dakarai said, breaking the silence. “What else were you told?”
“Nothing.” Jude was my secret. Until I fully understood what had happened, I refused to give the thought of him over to someone else to dissect.
“Nothing?” Talking Head asked. “You were told to read a book. Nothing happened afterward?”
“It went dark, and the vision was gone.”
Nice evasion.
One of the Council Clones — Ivan, maybe — leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. “Jasper, every detail is important, no matter how insignificant it seems. Is there anything else?”
“If there were something else, I’d tell you. He, it, whatever, told me to read a book and told me to maintain the cosmic balance. That’s it,” I insisted. “Why is this so important? Does he tell everyone something different?”
“He doesn’t speak to anyone, Jasper,” Dakarai said carefully. “Rather, the appearances are rare. Your vision is significant because it has the bearings of previous messages. I think — ”
“No one cares what you think, freak,” Danny spat as he strode back into the chamber, sans Cecilia. “There are only two possible scenarios. Either Jasper is lying about her ignorance, or her abilities are strong enough to merit the attention of one who doesn’t bother to speak to his children.”
I raked him with a scathing look. “Hey. Don’t take your pity party out on me. Boohoo, the new girl is more powerful than you. So sad, you’re not important enough for a vision. Get over yourself.”
“Atta girl,” Jordan murmured. “There’s the steel I expected.”
Danny was apoplectic with rage. But unlike the men on either side of me, he didn’t grow bigger or mythologically more impressive. He was weak and desperate to hold on to control. “Y-you… the balls… how dare,” he spluttered. “Confinement. Jordan, take her away. Lock her up near Dakarai’s quarters and make sure she can’t escape.”
Dakarai winked as if to say I’ve got this and straightened. “You have no authority here, and you were invited merely as a courtesy. Sit down and shut up, unless you want the entire compound to know you’re terrified of… what was it you called her? The scrawny little girl?”
“I am not scrawny!”
Talking Head slammed his fist on the table, but it didn’t matter. We hurled insults and threats at each other, increasing in volume until I had no sense of who said what and to whom.
“Shut up!” Miriam roared. “Enough. I don’t know what the hell is happening with your Circle, Dakarai, but I suggest you rectify the matter immediately. Jasper, do you understand the broad strokes?”
Stunned, I plopped back into my seat. “Broad strokes? There’s God, who’s thought of as good, the Devil, obviously bad. And there’s He-Who-Shouldn’t-Be-Named. And somehow we’re the descendants of this entity?”
“Yes,” she said, mollified by my grasp of the obvious. “The Order was created to ensure we, the children of Il Separatio, continue to exist and continue to maintain the cosmic balance. We are his Black Knights, if you will, separate from the moral and ethical judgments of the world.”
“Right.” I frowned. “Something terrible is about to happen, and I’m supposed to stop it by whatever means necessary.”
“Yes. With the help of the Circle, you will defeat this threat.”
“Great. Super. Fantastic. Now, what exactly is this threat?”
✽ ✽ ✽
“Finally,” Jordan muttered. “Cripes, talk about circling the issue. May I?”
Talking Head, Charles, nodded wearily. Whether it was the bickering, the multiple shows of immense ability and power, or the exhausting conversation, he wanted to be done with the lot of us.
“I’ll keep it simple. Someone is hunting our kind, our people. We haven’t been able to establish a pattern for these deaths, only that families who have abandoned the Order are being targeted.”
“Sounds like a pattern to me. Why can’t you send an email or an owl to warn them?”
“Because,” Danny said, “Like your family, they’ve shirked their duties and hidden themselves within humanity well. We wouldn’t have known about you if Mikael hadn’t begun to have visions of you shortly before we received a call from one of your distant relations.”
My head swiveled to the right. To his credit, Mikael appeared chagrined. “Visions?”
He nodded slowly. “Under ordinary circumstances, you wouldn’t be privy to this information, not yet. The Circle keeps our abilities a closely guarded secret. I have seen visions of the future, past and present my entire life. I saw you, but it was too late.”
“My family member… my great aunt? Where is she?”
“Oh, Jasper,” said Liliana, “you poor thing, you didn’t know. She went on the mission to get you. We don’t fully understand what happened, but she was found dead two days later.”
I pushed myself to stand on shaky legs. “I can’t. I’m sorry, but I’m officially at my breaking point. Here’s sanity,” I said, drawing an imaginary line in the air. “And here’s me, standing on the edge. Bottom line it for me before I start blowing up crap.”
Danny began to speak, but Jordan silenced him with a look. “We’re sorry about your relative,” he said.
“You don’t get it,” I said, tears burning in my eyes. “Everyone I know, my family, they’re all dead. You don’t get to say sorry.”
No one, not even Talking Head interrupted my outburst. My chest shuddered as I fought to breathe. Swallowing my anger and pain, I tried again.
“Tell me about this place. What do you do?”
Jordan watched me for a long moment, then spoke in a clear, detached voice. “Among other things, Danny collects information through more traditional means. Between his intel, Mikael’s visions and Dakarai’s innate sense of the cosmic equilibrium, I’ve hypothesized that whoever is taking our people are trying to tilt the balance to their side.”
“The Devil is trying to take over Earth?” I asked stupidly. “Isn’t this the kind of problem God should handle? Why us? Why me?”
“In theory, yes. But neither the Devil nor God have been present or involved in some time. Il Separatio, the Entity of Neutrality, by his nature, doesn’t get directly involved unless the existence of humanity is at peril. Without God or the Devil to counteract the other, society is in a free-fall. Humanity needs us, and someone is trying to ensure that we can’t do our job.”
“When you shake your fist at a god or blame a devil, it doesn’t matter. They’re not there, wherever there might be, and they’re not listening. Got it. May I be excused?”
“Not quite yet,” Ivan or Carlo or Marcus said. “I will honor your request and bottom-line it for you. Yes, you are likely our best hope of eliminating this threat, but you can’t be sent into the world untrained. Others will do what they can until you are ready.”
“Entrance into the Order,” Mikael interrupted. “You must undergo the initiation process, which will teach you control over your physical abilities, your cognitive processing, and the soul fire that burns in you.”
Wind. Mind Control. Fire and Energy.
The truth smacked me in the face like a baseball bat and knocked me back into my seat. “Oh, crap. You’re joking, right? I’m the last option, aren’t I? It was supposed to be the three of us: me, Livie and Jude.”
Dakarai inclined his head. “You were always the most powerful of the three, even before your family’s tragic deaths. Now, you’re the repository for all three abilities.”
>
“Jasper,” Miriam said, “If you don’t help us save the others of our kind, we won’t be able to maintain the balance. The world will experience violence of unimaginable proportions. Humanity will die.”
Nope. No pressure.
CHAPTER NINE
IREFUSED TO DISCUSS ANYTHING after Miriam’s pronouncement. The fate of the world was literally my responsibility.
Find the people killing the Vespers and kill them. When I was done with that pesky task, they wanted me to become a super-sleuth, find the people who were trying to tilt the balance, determine how, and kill them.
No biggie. But…
If I left, I had nowhere to go. I’d be a threat to whoever was kind enough to shelter me. I’d always be hunted. In a long list of terrible options, staying here, living with these potentially unstable and definitely murderous people, and honing my abilities was my best bet.
They could make me disappear from the world, out of the headlines and off the police’s most wanted list. Jasper Andrews would be no more. But Jasper Lee had a chance at a new lease on life, one where she was valued, protected, and given the opportunity to do the impossible.
The answer had been there all along.
Choice? What choice?
I was going to save the world.
✽ ✽ ✽
Blood, fire, and wind sealed my fate.
Dressed in a grey cloak, surrounded by the Circle, and standing in front of the High Council, I pledged my life to the Order of Vespers and repeated the vows of an initiate.
Dakarai held my hand over a ritual fire, made a deep cut with a blade of obsidian, and let the blood flow. More words were uttered, none of which I remembered, and wind of unknown origin extinguished the flames in the chamber.
I was home.
PART THREE
Beginnings
CHAPTER TEN
DAKARAI KNOCKED ON THE door of my new room. It was open wide, but he always extended the courtesy: a true gentleman, that one. It was part of his DNA, the impeccable manners and enviable grace.
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