by Mark Ayre
Sam was ready to blow. Held back at the last moment. Stephanie did not believe the things she was saying. She was trying to rile Sam, trying to get a reaction. Determined not to give her the satisfaction, Sam sped up a little, moving closer to Edie, and said nothing.
After another minute, Stephanie said, “I’m becoming a little disillusioned. I’m losing my faith.”
“In Pluto?”
Stephanie nodded. Sam couldn’t help but smile. However much research Stephanie might have done, in invoking the ritual which had brought Pluto forth, she had been messing with forces she could never understand. It hadn’t gone the way she expected. She was lucky the creature she called forth hadn’t murdered her the moment it arrived on Earth.
With this in mind, Sam said, “Things could be worse.”
“Obviously,” said Stephanie. “But that’s always true and doesn’t mean we can’t be disappointed with our lot.”
As they continued through the trees, Stephanie stroked the side of her face, feeling the deep gouges in her cheeks. Sam remembered the kitchen wall exploding, hitting Stephanie like a freight train.
“I saw your face,” said Sam. “When the house exploded.”
“Oh, yeah, I was a hottie, right? Now, this.”
“That’s not what I mean. You looked across as Pluto saved me. You were furious. He was supposed to save you, right? Because you raised him. But it wasn’t anything to do with me. He saved whoever was closest. It could easily have been the other way around.”
Stephanie stared at Sam a few seconds. Her jaw was slack, her eyes wide. Then she gathered herself and burst out laughing.
“You think I’m jealous? You think I’m pissy because my God saved you instead of me?”
“Aren’t you?”
“I am pissed he saved you. It’s a huge factor towards my disillusionment. But I didn’t want him to save me instead. Perish the thought.”
Sam tried to puzzle this out. Couldn’t. Had to confess to her confusion. Stephanie looked at Sam as though she were the simplest of children.
“I thought him a God,” said Stephanie. “Are you religious?”
“No,” said Sam. She had been once. When her parents died, she had for a while held to the hope they were in heaven. When Benny found out, he set her straight. There was no heaven, no hell. Her parents were gone. The two of them were alone. He was all she had.
“Good,” said Stephanie. “Religious people tend to be idiots. Not because they believe in God, but because they misunderstand what God would be. They think of God as benevolent, loving. They pray. Honestly. Prayer. Do you know why that’s so stupid?”
Sam didn’t. She said, “Because they always whisper and God has bad hearing?”
“That’s funny,” said Stephanie. “But no. It’s stupid because there are billions of humans, and God is immortal. To a God, our lives must appear to be over in less than a split second. Less than a nanosecond. Why would any God intervene in a life that means so little? That lasts for such a minuscule fraction of time?”
She felt her face again, winced as her finger went a little too far into a cut. Dragged her hand away.
“I was angry when Pluto saved you not because he didn’t save me, but because a true God would have saved neither of us. I’d already listened to Trey talk about his little mission. In Pluto’s responses, I found much to cause worry. When he saved you, I knew for sure: Pluto is no God. I screwed up. Now there’s a super-powered being running around looking to save the world. Looking to save humanity Can you believe it?”
Stephanie looked at Sam as though she’d forgotten who she was talking to. Disgust crossed her face. “Well, of course you can.”
Sam closed her eyes. Actually laughed at that.
“What?” Said Stephanie.
“Only you could portray a desire to save the world as a negative character trait.”
“Then I’m the only one with my eyes open. This world is a mess. Humans are repulsive. Politicians have lost control. With a true God by my side, an army of them, I could have changed all that. The race of beings I envisioned bringing in would have purified the world. And don’t tell me humankind can’t buy into that. Remember Noah, remember the flood? Whether that’s true or not is irrelevant. What matters is people believe it. Not only believe but understand.”
“Maybe you think the world is messed up. Maybe you’re right. Killing is never the answer.”
Stephanie laughed, and the laugh was half-crazed.
“But that’s what people do. That’s humanity’s raison d’etre. Haven’t you noticed? Every day, people kill people—the good as well as the bad. People die in wars. Smashed up in accidents. Shot dead in the streets. I know you know what I’m talking about.”
“Your family.”
“My family. Your family. Many more families besides.”
The words seemed to cause a blockage in Stephanie’s throat. Her eyes watered as she tried to clear it. While getting herself together, she looked away from Sam. She couldn’t bear to seem weak.
“This isn’t for me. Not any more,” she said. “You can have Pluto. My gift to you. But I’m out.”
As suddenly as that, she turned through the trees and began to walk away.
“Where are you going?” Sam called. She wanted to follow, though she hated Stephanie, but didn’t want to lose Edie.
“Dunno,” Stephanie called back as she receded into the trees. “Probably get drunk, probably get laid. Maybe I’ll rob a bank, buy a suitcase nuke, and blow up a town, just for the hell of it. Just to make people hurt as much as I hurt. How does that sound?”
Sam didn’t answer. By the last words, Sam could no longer see Stephanie. The beautiful, scarred woman was out of sight, and her words were fading too. No answer would reach its target.
Confused, worried, Sam turned back to the path and was surprised to see Edie facing her.
“You’re well shot of her,” she said.
Sam didn’t know what to say. The girl had lost her father minutes ago. Had already lost her mother. Her eyes were red, her cheeks tear-stained. Sam’s grief was far further removed than was the girl’s. It should have been she comforting Edie, but it was the teen (younger teen, anyway. Sam was nineteen, of course) who returned to Sam and held out a hand.
“Coming?” She asked. “I know what I said in the house, but I could use the company.
Sam didn’t know if Edie meant this, or if she could tell Sam was a little lost and needed a bit of help. She wondered if this girl might not be the strongest person she had ever met.
Deciding the intentions didn’t matter, only the gesture, Sam reached out and took the girls soft hand. They smiled at each other. Sad smiles that spoke of their loss.
“Come on then,” said Edie.
They walked into the woods. Sam tried not to think of Stephanie. Prayed they would never meet again.
Somehow, she couldn’t believe she would get so lucky.
Thirty-Seven
While Pluto worked on waking Trey, Mercury pulled back the living room curtains and watched Edie walk into the woods, followed by two strangers Mercury could not trust. Was this the right decision? She didn’t know, but Edie was determined, and Mercury wanted to respect the girl’s wishes.
Behind her, Trey stirred, began to wake as Edie had begun to wake. Xyla went the opposite way, falling asleep in Mercury’s arms. The poor, sweet baby. Her father had jumped ship before she was born. Her mother had died and now so had her adoptive father. Three parents she’d had and none would she remember.
What would become of her? And what of Edie? Mercury knew little about adoption other than it was much harder to find a place for older children than it was babies. Edie thought of Xyla like a sister. Would they be split up? The thought weighed on Mercury’s heart.
What if she survived? There was something to consider. The plan had been to die in the final battle, and if not, soon after. The darkness which crept through her heart could surely not be resisted for long. If she won
the final battle, suicide was the only option.
Or had seemed to be, before she had made her promise to Edie. Now indecision tore at her heart. Somehow, she had to put that to one side for the moment. No decision had to be made yet.
Given how powerful Cleo was, even if Pluto turned out to be the ally he claimed to be, they would likely be defeated and killed in the upcoming battle. Mercury might have the decision taken from her, so it was foolish to spend time worrying it through now.
Trey sat up. They would have brought him a glass of water, but the grenade had destroyed the kitchen, along with all the glassware. As Mercury sat beside Trey, propped him up, Pluto went upstairs to wet a flannel. Something to help with the pain.
“How do you feel?” said Mercury.
At first, Trey only groaned. His head was swimming, he was trying to regain his thoughts, his memories. He held onto his forehead as though afraid his head might drop off.
At last, he said, “Like my ally smashed my face and crushed my skull.”
Mercury felt her skin redden. “It was a shock, seeing you. You have to understand I saw Cleo throw you off that building and knew you didn’t have a parachute. It was hard to process someone might have saved you. Can you forgive me?”
“Forgive you?” Said Trey and chuckled. “Merc, I stabbed you in the stomach, and you died. I was there when rituals killed your mother and boyfriend. I came into your house with a gun, having promised Laars I would help kill you. Again.” He looked at her, smiled through the pain. “I count as a blessing and a miracle, every second I spend with you where you’re not kicking, punching, stabbing and breaking every muscle and bone in my body for everything I’ve done to you. My head feels like it’s been split in two. You owe me far greater punishment than this.”
Looking away, he buried his head in his hands and groaned again. At this speech, Mercury found she couldn’t help but smile, though there were tears too, as always when she remembered the losses she had suffered.
Surprising even herself, Mercury put an arm around Trey’s shoulders, pulling his head towards her, his face still buried in his hands.
“I could be mad at you for what you’ve done in the past if you want,” she said. “I probably should be mad. For some reason, it feels natural not to focus on what you did when you were under the control of your father and siblings, then Heidi. I find it natural to focus on what you’ve done since you threw off the shackles of your family. When I think about you, Trey, I remember how you escaped Heidi’s guard and rushed into the black hurricane to help us defeat the monster that left my body and stole your mother’s. I remember how you’ve stood beside Amira and me these last few weeks, fought beside us, and proved you have a heart of gold. A hero’s heart. That’s what I remember.”
Trey didn’t look up. He was sobbing into his hands now. Mercury squeezed her eyes, fought her own tears, and held tighter to Trey.
“That being said, I did get a sick thrill bashing you around with that shotgun. You feel like you need punishment, you let me know. I’ll batter and bruise you till the cows come home.”
Through his tears, he laughed. “I think I’m okay.”
“Good,” said Mercury. “Glad to hear it.”
Pluto appeared in the doorway. He chucked the flannel to Mercury, who handed it to Trey, who sat up, and placed it over his forehead while he got his tears under control.
“Touching scene,” said Pluto. “But can we get to business? After all, the fate of your planet is on the line.”
“Pity,” said Mercury. “I take it there’s no time for pizza?”
Pluto laid it out fast and simple. A world war had torn his home planet to shreds and stolen from the inhabitants the bodies they so loved, leaving them as little more than spirits. They could breed, age, and die, but little else. They were unable to eat, drink or touch. They felt nothing but cold and pain, day in, day out. Most of their kind had been reduced to insanity.
“In the old world,” said Pluto, “we had political structures much like the ones you have on Earth. We had elected leaders at local and national level. But after the war, the entirety of our population was laid low. We all had exactly the same status. All of us that is, except one.”
From the ashes had risen a commander. A member of the species with more power than would previously have been imaginable. Such power gave the wielder a natural right to rule and rule this figure did. From their scarred homeworld, he brought them into a new world, a beautiful world. They could have lived there forever in the bodies they inhabited, had the commander not been destroyed.
“The fool thought he was unopposed so became complacent. In truth, he faced opposition from two sides. I wasn’t born until a little later, but many of my current allies were around. They believed, as we still do, it was wrong to kill people and take their bodies. Of course, by that point, it was mostly too late. They also hated the subjugation of what remained of the population. They made their voices heard, but there was no violent resistance. Even for my group’s most ardent supporters, it’s difficult to fight to return to daily torment when you have a body and can eat, drink and generally be merry.”
“Is that how you feel now?”
Mercury couldn’t help herself. The question was out before she knew it was coming. She expected Pluto to fob her off. He smiled.
“It’s difficult,” he said. “I wish I could say otherwise, but when you’ve suffered for millennia, as have I, and suddenly you have a body and freedom, it’s easy to start making excuses. To tell yourself, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to kill a few million humans and take their bodies to end the suffering of your kind. After all, you could be nice to the survivors. Slavery isn’t the only option. To be clear, that’s not what I’m thinking. But others who’ve come through believing what I believe to begin with have soon lost their way. It’s amazing what a few weeks in human flesh can do.”
Mercury glanced at Trey, who was still too busy recovering to give an opinion. Mercury was torn. On the one hand, she appreciated Pluto’s honesty. On the other, it was worrying to know he could turn on them at any moment and try to bring more of his kind through at the expense of human life.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “I’m not so weak I’ll lose all sense of what I believe after a few hours in this body. We’re going against Cleo today and let me make this clear, we win, or we die.” He shook his head. “Actually, even that’s not clear enough. When you went against Cleo for the first time, I suppose you thought that was a win or die situation?”
Mercury nodded.
“Obviously it wasn’t, because you and Trey escaped. This is different. Returning to that first new world; Cleo’s faction also opposed the commander’s use of the planet and its inhabitants. But for different reasons.”
Pluto explained how Cleo believed their spirit form was their true form. Their destiny was to move from reality to reality, tearing worlds apart so entire dimensions folded into their own dark and twisted hell, creating a barren landscape that would eventually consume every universe.
“She sounds like a delight,” said Mercury.
“She’s not. Her plan’s already in motion. Within a few hours, the cracks between worlds will open, and your world, your galaxy, your universe will be shredded. Everyone will die. Those are the stakes.”
“That’s not what Heidi said,” said Mercury. She didn’t know why she should feel betrayed by Heidi, who had never shown herself to be particularly trustworthy. But she did. Until Pluto spoke again.
“Heidi’s young. She wasn’t around the last time Cleo tore through a world. She would have had no idea what the plan was when she pulled Cleo through. She’s probably regretting it now, but that’s irrelevant. Nothing matters but stopping what Cleo has started. Forget Heidi. Forget whoever’s possessed your friend. We have to stop Cleo breaking down the walls between dimensions.”
Xyla began to fuss. Mercury stood and bounced the baby in her arms, putting the kid back to sleep. As she circled the living room, betwe
en shushes to Xyla, she spoke to Pluto.
“That much is obvious. The question is, how do we stop it?”
“We can’t,” said Pluto. “Only someone with Cleo’s power levels can stop the process once it’s started.”
“But you said only Cleo has that much power.”
“That’s right.”
“Oh good, now I understand. So all we have to do is hold Cleo down and tickle her feet until she does what we want. She’ll be surrounded by possessed and infected I suppose, but that’s okay because we can point our finger, put on our stern tone, and say, No. Bad infected and possessed. You don’t get involved. I’m excited. Shall we get going?”
Tired and frustrated, Pluto watched Mercury a while without speaking.
Still bouncing Xyla, Mercury said, “What?”
“You humans have a tiresome proclivity for sarcasm. Did you know that?”
“Yes. Whatever. Even if it was couched in sarcasm, my point stands. I thought we only needed to kill Cleo and even that “only” is a joke given how powerful she is. Now we need to get her to close off her bloody weapon, then kill her. I must be Tom Cruise because this is mission impossible.”
“Tom Cruise?” Pluto cocked his head. “That reference is beyond the human whose memories I’ve stolen.”
“Then he died before seeing an incredible movie franchise. That makes his tale even sadder. My point is, how do we get Cleo to stop her weapon? I assume you have a plan?”
Pluto rose. From his back pocket, he withdrew the poisoned knife Trey had given him. He had used it to kill the charging bull outside, and the bull’s blood still coated the blade. He dropped the blade on the table.
“No one knew where the commander got his power. We believed he would hold it for eternity. Until Cleo killed him on that first world to which we moved after the war. When she plunged a blade much like this one into his heart, the commander died, and something incredible happened to his powers.”