Imprinted

by Jim Hines

Jeneta hugged her knees to her chest. “I freaked out in front of Greg and Isaac. I punched Kiyoko!”

  “I’m pretty sure she’ll live. Have you talked to your father?”

  “Isaac called him after they got Elizabeth Collins secured.” She could still hear her father’s quiet fury. Not only had Jeneta lied, she’d run off to confront an unknown danger without telling anyone.

  “He’s pissed.”

  “He’s worried about you. And he’s not the only one.”

  “I’m more worried about Greg’s dad.” Colonel Parker had been moved to medical with Talulah. His condition appeared identical to hers, and nobody knew how to help them. Collins, on the other hand, had been fine once she recovered from Jeneta’s spell. It wasn’t fair.

  Dr. Shah set her notes aside and turned her chair to study Jeneta more closely. “How long has it been since you’ve eaten?”

  “I stuffed myself with leftover dodo earlier today.”

  “What about sleep?”

  “What about it?” Jeneta shot back.

  “You’re fighting two battles,” Dr. Shah said. “Whatever’s happening here with Ms. Collins and the Venture and your presentation is one. The mental and emotional scars Meridiana left behind are the other. Trauma isn’t like an infection where you can take antibiotics for a week and it goes away. It lingers. Sometimes it tries to come back.”

  “You’re saying I’ve got emotional cancer?”

  “I’m saying what happened today doesn’t mean you’re weak. It doesn’t mean you’re broken. It means you’re a human being who survived something terrible. But you have the tools to fight. Tools that start with basic self-care. Now, how have you been sleeping?”

  “Badly.” Jeneta shrugged and looked away. “I keep dreaming that she’s calling me, trying to crawl back into my head. I remember all the people I hurt—”

  “The people she hurt.”

  “Whatever.” She shivered. “What if I lose control again? I lashed out at Kiyoko today. What if next time I use magic? What if I kill someone?”

  “Jeneta.” Dr. Shah’s voice was stern. “Breathe with me.”

  Jeneta realized she was on the verge of hyperventilating. She gripped the arms of her chair and forced herself to fill her lungs. They’d practiced this together before: first, inhale. Imagine she’d just set foot in a bakery and was smelling the fresh-made breads and muffins and other confections. Then, after a count of three, breathe out like she was playing the flute. It was silly, but the visualizations really did help.

  “Thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are interconnected,” said Dr. Shah. “We’ve talked before about how a change in one piece of the triangle affects the other two.”

  Jeneta nodded.

  “What thoughts go through your head when you think about these shadows you’ve been seeing, the swimmers?”

  “Nobody else can see them,” Jeneta said. “What if this means there’s still something wrong with me? I’m still broken, still not myself.”

  “Your mind ties what you’re seeing now to what you suffered with Meridiana. It creates a story that you’re broken. How does that story end, Jeneta?”

  It felt like an acorn had lodged in her throat. “With me losing myself again.”

  “Nobody else sees these things.” Dr. Shah shrugged. “Nobody else can do libriomancy with e-books, either. That doesn’t make you broken. It makes you extraordinary.”

  Jeneta snorted. “Ever since things fell apart with the ansible, I’ve been afraid to stop moving. I’m all right as long as I keep busy, but as soon as I stop…as soon as I try to sleep…”

  “It’s hard to focus on a new battle when you’re trapped in the old.”

  “What if I lose again? What if these things catch me?”

  “Then you’re in the best place in the world to get help. Jeneta, I want you to work on telling yourself a new story. A story about how you helped stop Elizabeth Collins. About the friends you have here. About how you’re going to get through this.”

  “What if you’re wrong?” Jeneta asked, so quietly she was amazed Dr. Shah heard.

  “I’ve worked with you for more than a year. I think I know you pretty well.” She smiled. “My money is on you.”

  * * *

  Jeneta answered the knock on their apartment door to find Kiyoko standing in the hallway wearing a copper-colored satin jacket three decades out of style. A bruise on the left side of her jaw meant this was the same clone Jeneta had punched outside the Venture. Before Jeneta could find the words for a proper apology, Kiyoko asked, “Are you all right? I’ve been worried.”

  “I’m fine,” Jeneta said automatically. “I’m sorry about—”

  “It’s nothing. You were frightened, but you didn’t hurt me. Your stance was too weak and your technique poor. Would you like me to teach you how to throw a proper punch?”

  Jeneta blinked.

  “That was a joke. Though I’d be happy to instruct you.”

  “Maybe later,” Jeneta said, smiling.

  “May I enter? I have video from the interrogation of Elizabeth Collins. Isaac asked that I share it with you, in case you see or hear anything he missed.”

  By now, Jeneta’s father had come up behind her. “Why does Isaac Vainio need the help of a seventeen-year-old girl to deal with this criminal? Hasn’t he dragged my family through enough?”

  “You can’t blame him for whatever messed-up magic Collins and her libriomancer set loose,” Jeneta argued.

  Kiyoko looked from one to the other. “If this is a bad time, I can return tomorrow.”

  “No.” Jeneta grabbed her hand and tugged her inside. “I want to hear what Collins said.”

  Her father jabbed his index finger at her like a weapon. “You are not to leave this apartment.”

  “I know. You’ve only told me a thousand times.” Jeneta stormed back to her room before the argument could spiral further.

  Kiyoko pulled a square pad of orange post-it notes from her jacket pocket, peeled off the top note, and stuck it on the inside of the bedroom door. A circular symbol was scrawled in the center in blue marker.

  “Should I ask?”

  Kiyoko stuck the next square in the center of the window. “Wards designed to prevent magic from passing in or out of this room. One of Isaac’s researchers put them together. If your visions have been coming from an external source, these should protect you and allow you to sleep tonight. They will also prevent Ms. Collins’ assistant from eavesdropping on our conversation.”

  Jeneta waited while Kiyoko finished sticking post-it notes around the room. She avoided the bulletin board, which was overflowing with photos, notes, and postcards. But the astronomy-themed wall calendar got a post-it right in the center of the Orion Nebula.

  Kiyoko returned the remaining post-its to her pocket and extended a hand. “Your phone?”

  Jeneta handed it over and sat on the edge of the bed. Kiyoko joined her. Touching one fingernail to the input jack, she unlocked the phone and pulled up a video.

  “I need a better password,” Jeneta muttered.

  Kiyoko smiled. “It wouldn’t make a difference.”

  On the screen, Isaac Vainio and Elizabeth Collins sat at a slate table in one of the Franklin Tower research rooms. The rooms were well-shielded to keep magical experiments contained, but they also protected against outside interference or spying. Doctor Shah was there as well, along with a woman from security whose name Jeneta couldn’t remember.

  “I told you, I don’t know where Gellert went,” Collins was saying.

  The woman looked at Isaac, who nodded and said, “She’s telling the truth.”

  “Isaac cast a spell to detect falsehood,” Kiyoko explained.

  “Colonel Parker is in a coma,” Isaac snapped. “Jeneta Aboderin and Talulah Polk were attacked during their presentation. Talulah still hasn’t recovered. Tell me everything you know about what happened to them.”

  Collins sat back and folded her arms. “I want it noted for the record
that I’m choosing to cooperate. You have no legal right to hold or question me, and these unfounded accusations—”

  “New Millennium is an odd duck, legally speaking,” said the woman. Jeneta’s brain finally dredged up a name: Babs Palmer, head of New Millennium security. “We own the land,” Palmer continued. “We’re continuing to sort some things out in court, but in essence, you’re a guest in our home. Did you know that in the state of Nevada, if you catch someone robbing your home, you’re legally allowed to shoot them?

  “What happened to Colonel Parker and Talulah Polk?” Isaac repeated.

  “I don’t know.” Collins sounded less sure of herself than before. “Neither I nor Gellert did anything to interfere with the girl’s presentation. Gellert’s notebook was enchanted to steal information from Colonel Parker, nothing more. Whatever crawled into the minds of your people, it didn’t come from me or my company.”

  Kiyoko paused the video. “We believe Gellert remains on the premises, but we’ve had no luck finding him. He must be using magic to shield himself from discovery.”

  “JP Multinational wanted the ansible. At least, that’s what Collins told me. I guess they decided to take the Venture too. It’s all about profit. Maybe Gellert had a different goal. He could have conjured the swimmers on his own, without telling his boss.”

  Kiyoko continued the playback.

  Dr. Shah leaned forward. “Everything about you is precise and carefully planned, but your attempt to steal the Venture was hasty.” There was a cold undertone of anger to her words that Jeneta had never heard before. “That wasn’t part of the plan. What changed?”

  “Gellert disappeared,” Collins snapped. “I ordered him to find out what had gone wrong with the ansible. The more we learn from your mistakes, the fewer we make ourselves. But he stopped returning my calls. If you find him before we do, tell him he’s fired.”

  “I see.” Dr. Shah nodded. “First, you failed to recruit Jeneta Aboderin. Then you lost your libriomancer. The Venture was your last chance to make sure you didn’t return empty-handed.”

  Collins grimaced. “The girl was a mistake, looking back.”

  “Why? Because she threw your offer back in your face?”

  “You don’t see it, do you?” Collins put her hands on the table. “Talulah Polk assisted Jeneta in her presentation. Now Polk is in a coma. Jeneta goes to the Parkers’ apartment, and Colonel Parker joins Polk in the hospital. Whatever’s going on, JPM isn’t involved, but Jeneta Aboderin is smack dab in the middle of it.”

  The playback stopped. Jeneta felt like she’d been punched.

  “Elizabeth Collins never told a deliberate or conscious lie,” said Kiyoko. “However, she’s intelligent enough to talk around deception. Isaac hoped you might have suggestions for additional questions.”

  Jeneta laughed bitterly. “Didn’t you hear her? I’m the cause of this. You said yourself she couldn’t lie.”

  “She couldn’t tell a conscious lie. She may truly believe you’re responsible, but that doesn’t make it true. From what you said, Colonel Parker was trapped by this enchantment before you ever arrived at his apartment.”

  Jeneta flopped backward on the bed, staring at the slowly-rotating blades of the ceiling fan. After a moment, Kiyoko stiffly followed suit.

  “Maybe one of the werewolves could sniff Gellert Nguyen out?” Jeneta suggested.

  “It’s been tried with no success.”

  Jeneta sighed. “What if it’s personal? What if I—if Meridiana—hurt Nguyen or someone he cared about?”

  Kiyoko paused. “Possible, but unlikely. Gellert Nguyen’s work history is well-documented. He was not in any of the areas Meridiana attacked. Nor can I find any connection between him and the casualties left in Meridiana’s wake.”

  “I’m sorry, Kiyoko. Whatever got into Talulah’s and Colonel Parker’s heads, I don’t know how to get it out, or how to stop it from hurting anyone else.”

  They lay in silence for a long time. When Kiyoko finally spoke, her tone was thoughtful. “I was created from libriomancy, taken from a book as a collection of embryos and grown like a seed in a greenhouse. My purpose was to serve as a living computer and bodyguard. I was programmed for servitude. I know what it means to be…not your own person. I will do whatever I can to help you, Jeneta.”

  Her vision blurred. “Thank you.”

  “Would you like me to help you sleep? I’ve learned to mimic a number of minor spells, including—”

  “No!” Jeneta took a breath. “No, that’s all right.”

  “Would you like me to stay in the apartment? You should be safe, but if your theory about Nguyen wanting revenge against you is correct—a remote possibility—I’m happy to provide additional protection.”

  “You don’t have to be a bodyguard,” Jeneta protested.

  “I know. But I choose to.”

  She swallowed. “All right.”

  Kiyoko looked around. “With the wards in place, I can’t hear my clones’ thoughts. It’s disconcerting. I believe I’ll wait in the living room, where I won’t be cut off from the rest of me. That will also provide a direct line of sight to the door. I’ll inform your father.”

  Kiyoko’s presence, even in the next room, lightened a weight Jeneta hadn’t realized she was carrying. She got ready for bed, dropped a pair of crickets and a green Skittle into Nkiruka’s cage, and turned off the lights.

  An hour later, she got up and stared out the window, wondering what game the vampires and werewolves were playing tonight. Hadn’t one of them said something about a badminton tournament?

  An hour after that, she grabbed her phone and scrolled through her social media feeds, which eventually led her to Talulah’s website, where she killed another hour listening to Talulah’s sports announcer-style commentary on various Super Mario run-throughs.

  It was close to one in the morning when sleep finally overpowered her.

  According to her alarm clock, it was exactly two fifty-four when she bolted awake, sweat dripping down her face and back. She’d been falling—no, drowning. Pulled deeper into watery darkness that smothered all cries for help.

  She pulled her comforter higher and forced herself to inhale slowly, imagining the soothing smell of fresh-baked bread. In and out, one breath at a time, until her heartbeat slowed and her hands stopped shaking.

  She switched on the lamp beside her bed. Nkiruka burrowed deeper into the obsidian gravel, trying to escape the evil light. The fire-spider lacked any hint of flame.

  “I’m safe.” She felt foolish speaking the words out loud, but it helped. Nkiruka was here to alert her of danger. Wards protected her bedroom. Kiyoko waited in the next room.

  Something wet brushed the back of her neck. She bolted forward, biting back a scream.

  A squidlike shape floated above her headboard, dark tendrils extended. Jeneta snatched her phone and scrambled backward. “Get out!”

  It was in her room. Inside the wards. That shouldn’t be possible. Unless Collins was right…unless these things were coming from Jeneta herself.

  As if to prove her wrong, the swimmer darted away through the bedroom door—and the ward—like a ghost.

  Relief and despair flooded through her. Whatever these shadows were, this one hadn’t done more than brush her thoughts. But what if it changed its mind? Nothing Jeneta or anyone else did could stop them.

  The door opened. Kiyoko scanned the room before making eye contact with Jeneta. “I heard noise?”

  The swimmer drifted through the living room, toward the far wall. “Your wards didn’t work.”

  “Isaac’s wards, not mine.” Kiyoko sounded mildly offended as she stepped closer. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah.” Jeneta grabbed a robe, thinking of her last session with Dr. Shah. Controlling her emotions was like herding cats, and her thoughts were a snarl, but she could choose her behavior. “We have to go after it.”

  “What’s going on?” Her father was awake. Jeneta groaned.

&n
bsp; “One of those things came back,” she said. “Kiyoko’s wards couldn’t stop it.”

  “Isaac’s wards,” Kiyoko repeated. Behind her, the shadow disappeared from the living room.

  “I know what you’re going to say, but I can’t keep hiding.” Jeneta spoke tightly, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “If Gellert Nguyen is responsible for these things, maybe this one will lead us to him. I’m the only one who can see them.”

  “You would confront him with only this woman for protection?”

  “I’ve already informed security of this breach,” said Kiyoko. “We will not be alone.”

  Jeneta stepped toward the door. “Dad, please. I’m tired of being afraid.”

  “Let me get my shoes.”

  “Thank you.” Jeneta ran barefoot through the living room and out the door. The hallway was empty. Kiyoko followed her down the stairwell onto the front walk outside, where two additional Kiyokos joined them.

  Jeneta’s attention jumped to a large moth orbiting one of the street lamps. How did you find a shadow in the darkness? If it had continued in a straight line after leaving the apartment, it should be heading toward Franklin Tower.

  Footsteps crunched behind her as her father caught up. “Where is it?”

  Movement pulled her attention to another lamp. A squid-like shape swam through the light. The analytical part of Jeneta’s mind noted that the shadow, whatever it was, cast no shadow of its own.

  “It’s going toward the loading dock.” Jeneta took off in pursuit.

  “You’re aware this could be a trap,” Kiyoko commented, running alongside her.

  “Why bother? These things could get to me anywhere they wanted.” It was a simultaneously reassuring and terrifying thought.

  A paved road sloped down to a pair of locked garage-style doors behind Franklin Tower. Jeneta’s quarry disappeared through the left door. Motion-activated lights switched on as they approached.

  “That’s where the primary ansible unit is being stored,” Kiyoko noted. “According to surveillance video and security logs, it has been undisturbed since the presentation.”

  A stocky brown-skinned woman wearing a black leather jacket and carrying a wooden sword in one hand joined them. Lena Greenwood didn’t look dangerous, but her appearance was deceptive. The hamadryad had gone toe-to-toe with homicidal vampires and walked away unscathed, and that sword was stronger than steel. She nodded in greeting. “Security paged me. Isaac’s on his way.”