A grinding sound broke the vision and it vanished, leaving me staring up at the roof of the cave.
13
The grinding sound boomed across the cave. I sat up. Light flooded the cave from the now open door.
More light exploded from the cave walls and the rocky ceiling above. I shut my eyes. The moss and roots shown with a bright, blue-tinged light. Somehow, the moss and roots had changed. They no longer sang to me.
Instead, they spoke.
“Free us. Free us from the chains that bind the world and us. Free us.”
Over and over again, fading each time until their pleas were faint murmurs. I opened my eyes. The light from the walls had faded. My vision cleared and I could make out a group of people standing inside the massive doorway.
Keisha, Renee, Chloe, the big-shaven headed Fellowship guy, and others I didn’t recognize. A tall figure that looked like Ella, but after that stunt she’d pulled with her apparitions, I had no way of knowing. They were far enough away that I shouldn’t feel their Empowered presence. But my skin tingled from the thousand needles of a nearby Empowered. Water splashed, and I turned, in time to see Ella in a scuba suit emerge from the water, her face twisted into an angry mask.
I jumped back as she swung at me, and my feet slipped on the wet rock. I tumbled backward. My head slammed against something hard.
Strong arms hauled me up as pain squeezed my skull.
“Why do you wreck everything?” Ella’s projection demanded, her fingers pressing hard on my skin. She pushed me into the water. There was a splash next to me as she jumped in. I coughed as I swallowed water.
I shook myself, but she held me tight. My head felt like a bell wrapped in cotton. I was still tired, exhausted.
I coughed again. She held me, and began swimming toward the shore. I tried to swim too, but I don’t think I was helping much.
Someone dove into the water near the shore and began swimming toward us. A moment later another Ella broke the water and held me by the other arm while swimming. We reached the shore a few minutes later and Keisha pulled me up.
“You always have to break the rules, don’t you?” She wasn’t smiling. “I hope it was worth it, because you’re in the shit now.”
I didn’t answer. My head still hurt like hell, and I was dead tired. I just stood there, trying to focus on her.
She looked surprised. “What’s the matter with you?”
“I don’t know.”
Surprise turned to worry. “She’s hurt,” she said to the Ella projections.
Neither projection said anything. Instead, they flanked me, each putting an arm under one of my shoulders, and half carried, half pulled me along to the exit. One of the Fellowship women held my clothes.
“Shouldn’t she get dressed?” Keisha asked.
“She’s a prisoner,” one of the Ellas said. “She can get dressed in a cell.”
“I thought you guys didn’t believe in prisons,” I said. I couldn’t remember them ever telling me that, but I’d never seen one. My head was still muddy, but I had enough sense to realize that there were always prisons wherever you went.
They took me up a ramp, surrounding me like I was the most dangerous person in the world.
They put me in an actual cell, ten feet by ten feet, with a high ceiling. It an iron door that looked to be at least a thousand years old. There were no windows.
I sat in darkness and shivered. Time passed. Finally, the door opened with a screech of metal against rock, and a woman I didn’t recognize came him, holding my clothes.
“Please put these on,” she said. There was none of the old “nice to meet you” tone in her voice. Her voice was cold, flat.
“Where’s Alexander Sanchez?” I asked her.
“You don’t deserve to know!” She threw my clothes at me.
I grabbed them. “Please, where is Alex?” She ignored me, and left. The door slammed with an iron clang. I pulled on my clothes and sat down in the darkness, back against the hard wall.
I’d answered the vision, and seen my Mom, alive. Alive. But worry for Alex weighed me down. He couldn’t have left. That wasn’t Alex. No, he cared about me. Which meant that Loris and her people had had something to do with his disappearance. I had to find out what had happened to him. I fell asleep, determined to find him, no matter what.
I was awake when the door opened again and three Ellas stood there, all dressed identically, in green jumpsuits with a silver disk logo.
I coughed. My throat was dry. “You look like a Fellowship version of a Hero Council sanctioned Empowered. Why?”
The Ellas stared at me for a long moment. “It represents a new order.”
“Why green?
“Green is the color of Spring. A new Spring is dawning.”
Figured that Ella would go for the philosophical look. “Where’s Alex?” I asked.
“That is none of your concern,” the three said.
“What happened to him?” I asked. “He’s… he’s my friend. I have to know. Please.”
They ignored the question. “You have to go before the tribunal.”
“Why?” I asked. I pushed up from the floor onto my feet. My stomach rumbled. Hunger gnawed at me.
“You risked Sanctuary.”
I crossed my arms. “All I did was go for a skinny dip in a pool.” I smiled.
The three Ella projections all gave me hard looks. Having sticks up their butts must be a specialty of hers these days. “You know that wasn’t what you did,” they all spoke in unison. “You broke the rules. And you changed—” they all shut up at once. Then the one on the left spoke. “You’ll find out at the tribunal.”
“And you’re here to take the condemned to her sentencing.”
“It’s a tribunal, Mat. That means they’ll decide there.”
I shook my head. “What’s gotten into you? I’m your sister. I want to help you. Help this place.”
All three stared at me in creepy identical fashion. Ella now had her own triplets. “I told you not to come,” they said in unison.
Two big burly Fellowship dudes waited outside. They had the no-nonsense look of guards.
No Keisha though. The five of them escorted me down a winding set of corridors until we reached a door that led to another cave, this one with a circle of high-backed stone chairs, carved from the rock itself, forming a crescent.
Glowing spheres mounted on iron tripods lit the room. Loris sat in the center throne-like chair, with another Ella, this one in jeans and a plaid shirt, beside her. Past Ella sat an older woman, while a bearded old man watched from his stone chair on the other side of Loris.
“You’re the real Ella, aren’t you?” I asked her.
“Yes.” She seemed calmer than her apparitions, which glared at me. They’d been nothing but hostile ever since I arrived.
The real Ella looked sad.
There was no sign of Keisha. I would’ve thought she’d be there.
“What happened to Keisha?” I asked.
“She is guarding Sanctuary.” Loris said. “That is immaterial. You are charged with endangering Sanctuary.”
“I didn’t.”
“Let me finish,” she said. The kindness she’d had before was missing from her voice. “This tribunal will consider your crime and pass judgement.”
I crossed my arms. “I’m not the one endangering this place. You know that.”
Loris’s eyes narrowed. “Your actions placed Sanctuary in danger.”
“Don’t I get a chance to defend myself?” I demanded.
“No.” The word rang out in the room.
“That’s not much of a trial,” I said.
Loris’s expression was cold. “This isn’t a civil court, Mathilda Brandt. The three of us will consider the facts, and pronounce our judgment.”
I looked at Ella. “What about my sister? Does she get a say in this?” I asked.
Loris smiled at Ella, suddenly kind again. “Your sister has a right to be here. She is an honored member of
this community.”
The old man sitting on the other side of Loris spoke up. “I think the young woman has a right to defend herself,” he said, nodding at me.
“Thank you.” I smiled at him. He smiled back. The woman on the other side of Ella smiled at me as well.
“Samuel has a point,” she said.
A flicker of anger flashed across Loris’s face, but was gone as fast.
“Your heart is good,” she told Samuel. “But remember your position as one of Sanctuary’s leaders. You have a responsibility to exercise your judgement.” She turned back to face the woman on the other side of Ella. “You, as well, Olivia. Do not lose sight of how important your position is.”
The smiles faded from Samuel and Olivia. Their expressions went cold.
“Mathilda Brandt had been granted the privilege of joining us here,” Loris said.
Samuel and Olivia nodded.
“She constantly attempted to see her sister, Ella, even though she had been told that Ella did not want to see her at the present time, and that she should be patient.” Everyone in the room nodded, and looked at me like I was bug.
My chest was heavy. Loris’s words played them all like fiddles. I felt no tingling from her, not like the tingling I got from Ella, but she had power. Her words had power. It was more than just being persuasive in the ordinary sense. Even if she didn’t feel like an Empowered, she possessed the power of one, somehow. Perhaps it was a special connection to this source. Perhaps she’d learned to disguise her power. No matter what, it was blindingly obvious now she wielded a superpower in her words. The vision I’d experienced in the Sacred Spring made everything so clear now, maybe that was why her words no longer affected me. They hadn’t worked on me so well to begin with. Guess being a world-class hard-headed pain in the ass finally had come in handy.
“It’s true,” I said. I raised a hand as Loris started to speak again. “I didn’t listen. I’m sorry. Really I am.” I meant it, too.
The faces of the people in the room started to soften. Ella looked at me sympathetically, while Samuel and Olivia nodded.
“You have presented us with the facts, before Mathilda arrived to this tribunal,” he said to Loris. “What was missing was her intent.” He turned to me.
Loris’s eyes narrowed, and her mouth tightened. Angry again. But just like before, when she opened her mouth, the anger was gone, replaced by a persuasive earnestness.
“But we know her intent, my friends. Her intent was to kidnap her sister, and take Ella from us.”
Just like that, the sympathy was gone again from the faces around me.
“I know that was wrong,” I said. “I see that now.”
Loris raised her hand. “Please, Mathilda, this is not your place to speak.”
“I agree,” Olivia said. “Your intent was clear.”
I closed my mouth. I wasn’t a lawyer, and they weren’t interested in listening. Loris’s power of persuasion was too potent. I suddenly realized I’d been clenching my fingers and relaxed them. Getting angry at gotten me into this mess. I had to find another way out of it.
Loris gave me a sad look. “The tribunal finds you guilty. We are only awaiting the arrival of the other person you victimized.”
“What other person?” I blurted the words out.
“You will see.”
Ella’s eyes were sad. I thought I saw tears swimming in them.
What had been the point of all of this? There had to be a reason.
The door opened behind me. My skin began tingling violently, a new pattern. An Empowered I hadn’t met before was nearby. I turned around to see who it was and my heart leapt
Alex entered the room, escorted by two guards. He had a few days of beard, his hair was a mess, but he smiled at me as he approached.
Alex lived! The guards brought him to stand beside me. His eyes sparkled.
I couldn’t help myself, I grinned like an idiot and engulfed him in a big bear hug. A jolt of power surged through me, and my exhaustion was gone.
“You’re Empowered,” I stammered.
He nodded.
I flashed on his standing like a statue when we were stuck on the fairy road. Other moments after when he wasn’t himself, withdrawn, staring off into space. His seeming sick.
It had been his Empowering. I had so many more questions, but the tribunal was set on doing its thing.
“You are both found guilty of having endangered Sanctuary and the community here by your actions.”
Loris nodded at Alex. “However, Alexander Sanchez, your actions were not conscious in their intent.” The others nodded. “You came here because Mathilda Brandt brought you here.”
Alex listened, nodding. I wanted him to speak up, to break her spell, but he just listened, the smile fading from his face.
Loris continued. “You possess a great gift now, Alexander Sanchez, one that could benefit this community greatly.” Heads nodded. Loris was setting up something.
I took a lungful of air, relaxed my clenching fingers. Getting pissed off wouldn’t help. I caught his eye.
“You came because you loved me,” I said. The world seemed to stop for a second. “And I love you.” I brushed his fingers with mine.
He blinked and smiled at me.
“I love you,” he said.
Loris looked like she was about to spit fire. She took a breath, and went all reasonable and pleasant.
“We can see you believe you have feelings for each other. Traveling together, sleeping and eating together, coming a great way together, certainly that can engender a feeling like love.”
“Not like love,” I said. “Love.” I looked at Alex again. Grasped his hand in mine. “I love you, Alex. I think I’ve loved you for a while now, I just didn’t realize it.”
“I can appreciate that you believe you love him, but there are larger matters here.” Loris sounded sad. “The fate of hundreds of people is at stake. This place is precious. It must be protected. Your actions undeniably jeopardized this place.”
“How?” I asked.
A smile of triumph appeared on her face for an instant, and then she looked sad again. “The Sacred Spring is in crisis. The source of our power is disturbed by your actions and your presence.”
That smelled like B.S. to me, but I had gone into the Spring. I couldn’t tell what the consequences of that might have been. I almost mentioned my vision, but held back.
“I don’t know how I could have hurt anything,” I said.
“Of course, not. How could you?” Loris asked. “You are young. But, sadly, you are also dangerous.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because of your power and especially because of your anger and impulsive behavior. I’ve told you there’s an ancient necklace, a network of sorts, that binds the power, contains it. I told you that once upon an ancient time Empowered walked the Earth as Gods, and that the source of the power was the Earth, and after nearly destroying it, the Human-Gods decided to bind it. Then the Gods went away.” She sighed and swept the room with her gaze. “Our connection to the source, the Sacred Spring, is fragile. It must be protected. Sanctuary hangs in a network of very delicate threads that connect it to what you call the fairy road, which the so-called Dark-Net maintains. Because that road is not ancient.”
Not ancient? “You mean it’s new?” I asked.
“It is newer than the first modern Empowered.”
“Who created it?”
“Harnessed it is a better way of putting it,” Loris said. “The Dark-Net is a modern version of an ancient network that was closed to us.”
Bey had told me James Goldin had set up the Dark-Net, that it had been connected to something ancient. “What does that have to do with me?”
“You endanger the Sacred Spring and the connection to the source,” Samuel said. Olivia nodded.
I shot a look at Ella. She lowered her gaze, and fiddled with her hands.
Loris tapped the table in front of her with a rod with a cas
t-iron head that made it look like a tree, with thick branches. She rapped the table with it, three times.
“Mathilda Brandt, the tribunal hereby sentences you to banishment. Our decision is final.”
“You should all leave,” I said. “This place is a death-trap. You have to see that.”
My words echoed in the room.
“That is enough,” growled Samuel after a long moment. “The matter is closed.”
“What about me?” Alex asked. He looked concerned, worried even.
Loris nodded at him. “Alexander Sanchez, the tribunal finds that you were unaware of what was happening to you, and ignorant of the changes which empowered you. As such, we find you innocent. We want you to stay in Sanctuary.”
Want him to stay in Sanctuary. Just like that.
He nodded.
“Don’t,” I whispered. The tribunal was all smiles now, except for Ella, who fiddled with her hands and wouldn’t look at me. So very different from her hotheaded apparitions, who still stood behind me, two steps back. But they no longer looked pissed. In fact, their faces were blank and they stared off into space.
“We can help you use your power,” Loris said. “You will be a great help to us, and to Sanctuary.”
The light went on in my head. The key word there was help. Support would have said, asset. Same difference.
“You only want him for his power.”
Loris shook her head, and lied straight to my face. “No, Mathilda Brandt, we want him for his heart and his courage as well.”
“What is your power?” I asked Alex.
He frowned. “It’s hard to put into words.”
“And no concern of yours,” Samuel said. “You are leaving.”
“How?” I asked.
“Via the secret pathway, the one you call the fairy road. You will be taken there immediately. The time is right for your transit.”
“Can I at least say goodbye?” I asked. “It’s going to hurt a lot to be separated from my sister again.” I didn’t have to fake my sorrow. “And Alex, too.”
Both Ella and Alex looked like they were struggling against Loris’s spell. Good.
Loris nodded. “Certainly, Mathilda Brandt. Here is as good a place as any.”
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