A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe

by Jon Chaisson

  *

  “Poe to CJ, do you copy? Where the hell are you?”

  Poe cursed after calling her name for the third time. He stood outside the storefront on Haden Street, under the awning, holding the comm up high and swiveling in place in the distant hope that her lack of response was actually a bad satellite connection. He tried once more to no avail and gave up, reclipping the comm to his jacket. He stepped into the small storefront office, sparsely decorated with office furniture and exactly one large painting of the Bridgetown skyline, and knocked on the doorframe as he passed it. “Hello?” he called out.

  “She has found another way,” Christine said, stepping out from behind a beaded curtain that hung across the wide arch of the back hallway. “She will dispel these inner demons with and without your help. Make no mistake: you are still important to her. There is nothing personal in her decision.”

  “Hello to you too,” Poe said, smiling at her. “Goddess, it’s great to see you again, Chris.” She stood at the doorway, white towel in hands, briskly drying her rain-drenched blond curls. She looked at him with stunning blue eyes, one brow arched higher than the other in amusement. Poe’s pulse quickened as he saw her, and remembered all too clearly how beautiful she was.

  “Alec Poe,” she nodded. “Just the person I’ve been looking for.”

  “It’s been too long,” he said, and gave her a tight hug. “Listen — we’ve got an emergency, and I need your help. We have about ten minutes to kickstart a Gathering using a Benjamin’s Key. You up for it?”

  Christine burst out laughing and pushed him away. “Are you kidding? Is that what you came up with?”

  Poe winced, and pointed upwards with his thumb. “Best we could, given the situation. The weather is going nuts out there, and it’s not slowing down. You were the first person I thought of, plus I heard you were looking for me. We have two Mendaihu as grounders out on Northern Avenue if we need to redirect.”

  Her amusement died a quick death and she glared at him. “You aren’t kidding.” She studied him for a moment, thin arms crossed in front of her. A moment later she turned and retreated to the back of the store again. “Hold on a second.”

  Immediately Poe felt guilty. This was a woman he hadn’t talked to for over six months, since she took a well-deserved break from soul divining. He could have come over to visit her at any time, and yet it hadn’t occurred to him. And here he was, throwing a life-threatening emergency at her as if it was nothing.

  A moment later she returned wearing a black B-Town Saints ball cap and a dark green overcoat and carrying a large briefcase, which she pushed into his arms. She smiled at him as if she hadn’t minded his sudden rush; in fact, she looked as if she was looking forward to it. She closed and locked her office, and led him to a rear stairwell. She bounded up the stairs so quickly that Poe nearly had to run in order to catch up.

  “So what are we looking at?” she asked over her shoulder.

  “The Rain of Light,” Poe wheezed. “Pashyo, will you slow down? You know I still smoke.”

  That elicited a laugh from her. “Then quit, Alec. Rain, huh? Sounds like corruption. Anyone I know cause it?”

  This time Poe laughed, though his was laced with a bitter taste. “Haven’t you been watching the news, Christine? This is a spiritual war we’re fighting here. That thing was awakened by a Mendaihu and corrupted by a nuhm’ndah.”

  “I know,” she kidded. “Just wanted to make sure you were up on things.”

  He shook his head. “Knew I could count on you.”

  “Damn straight.” She rounded the last flight of stairs and stopped just short of the roof access door, waiting for Poe to catch up. She placed her hand on it, but did not push it open. “Let’s get one thing straight, Alec,” she said, not facing him. “Any other Agent, any other day, I wouldn’t think twice about kicking their sorry ass back out the door. You…” She took a deep breath, then another. “You’re like an older brother to me, Alec. I can’t forget that.” Finally, summoning up her courage, she turned and flashed a forced grin at him. “Besides…I kind of figured you’d be looking for me anyway. Consider me hired. Adjust your collar and let’s go.”

  She gave the door a much harder kick than expected, and they were met with a wall of icy rain pounding directly upon them. They both yelped and shielded their eyes as they crossed the roof towards a small wooden shed set up near the rear of the building. She fumbled with her keys, unlocked the door and pushed Poe in.

  “You are invited,” she said, waving a hand around the shed. “I do most of my spells, rituals, and healings up here now. Put the case near that floor latch.”

  “I remember this place,” he said. It was once a bare room with very little in the way of comfort, though comfort was not always a concern when she did spiritual work. Now there were several throw pillows on which to kneel, a kotatsu for gathering circles, a supply of candles and incense, and a tiny refrigerator in the corner for refreshment. The room looked well used. In the months since she’d left the ARU, she’d done well.

  Christine opened the briefcase and pulled out a sturdy leaden hoop shaped in wide oval. It had no ornamental carvings or meaningful symbols inlaid on it, nor did it have any intricately placed objects reaching to the heavens. It was a simple, dark-colored, egg-shaped hoop. She had him fasten a heavy rod into the base of the hoop while she held it in place. Lastly she opened up a roof hatch, and together they stuck the artifact through to the outside and secured a weighted stand at the base, and secured it into the notch in the floor.

  The Benjamin’s Key stood before them, twelve feet high and completely uninspiring. Poe had only seen one once before, and that had been in the artifacts library of ARU Headquarters. It seemed like an ordinary scepter, and to an untrained eye it would have been little more than a curious conversation piece. Its true power, however, lay within its wielder. It was a conductor of spiritual energy that needed to be drained as quickly as possible. Such energy was usually unstable, chaotic and in such vast quantity that only the best of wielders were physically and psychically strong enough to withstand it. The misbegotten name had come from an old pre-Landing myth of a provincial forefather experimenting with energy using lightning and a key, and it had stuck over time.

  Satisfied, Poe reached out to Kai and Ashan over his comm to let them know everything was set on his end…and added with some trepidation that Caren had returned to the warehouse. The news was met more with curiosity than with worry.

  “Perhaps it is better she’s there with her,” Kai suggested. “If anything happens…” She herself did not want to finish her words, the same Poe had thought but had dared not say. The silence hung for what seemed too long a time. “Ashan and I will start the ritual,” she said finally, her voice cold. “Christine can activate the Key whenever she feels ready.”

  “I’ll be here as well,” he said, and held the commlink away from him for the moment. “We do this together.”

  “You don’t have the knowledge or the experience,” she said.

  “I have the faith,” he said, giving her an impish smile.

  The comment made her laugh, and she nodded approval. “Yes,” she said, “that you do, Alec. In abundance. Tell Kai to give us ten more minutes so I can give you a crash course.”