by Indie Gantz
“Of course you did.” Leave it to Tirigan to become a physician overnight. “Tell me, how much sleep have you been getting, Tirigan?”
“Sleep?”
“Yes, sleep. You know, the thing that people do to recharge their bodies when they aren’t studying or insulting their siblings?”
“I sleep.” Tirigan ignores my jab.
“How many hours?” I ask.
There’s a pause. It’s long enough to make me think he is actually counting.
Do not try and turn this conversation around on me. You just acquired fourth degree burns over 100% of your body. I’d like your assurance that will not be happening again.
I look down at my body, the sheet that had been pulled up to my chest has fallen down to my waist. I’m not wearing the clothes I was wearing before. Instead, I’m looking down at an overly large button down shirt with yellow paisleys printed all over it.
“This is Oleander’s shirt. Why am I—?”
Your clothing was burned off of you. It was easier to dress you in something with buttons.
“My clothes...” I hesitate and think about what really happened out in the backyard. I remember pulling the energy from the sun, I remember heat and... power. So much power. It was like an untapped source, infinite in strength. It’s a wonder I survived at all.
Thinking of my burned off clothing, I reach my hand up to my head and find it completely bare. “My hair…”
Oleander offered to grow it back for you while you slept, but I refused him. He did, however, leave a few Eidikós that will grow hair back in the event you’ve yet to learn that skill. He gestures towards a few glowing chartreuse stones lying on the desk at the end of my bed.
Reaching up slowly, I move my hand over the smooth skin of my bald head, shivers running down my body as a chill flows through me. Pulling my legs free of the sheet, I stand up carefully and walk over to the mirror on the other side of the room, not looking down at my bare legs for fear of what I’ll find. When I finally step in front of my reflection, my jaw drops in shock.
“How...?” I trail off. My horrific appearance steals my voice. “I… I thought…”
I wanted you to see, Tirigan replies smoothly, still sitting on his bed. Maybe this will serve as an effective reminder for you in the future.
The monster in the mirror rolls its eyes. I’m completely unrecognizable. With no hair, red and blotchy, scarred skin, wrinkles, and open sores, I look more like a dried out chestnut than a person.
There is a bath set up for you upstairs. You may finish healing there if you wish. Tirigan finally rises from the bed, lifting a backpack off the floor and pulling it onto his back. The action draws my attention away from my gruesome reflection.
“Where are you going?”
As if answering a question about the weather, Tirigan responds casually, “Zoúnkla,” then begins moving toward the bedroom door.
“Wait, what?!”
Everyone else is out of the house. This may be our only opportunity to leave a message for John.
“Where is everyone? And what message? Tirigan—”
Kor is on an assignment for the Collective. Vi has taken the children to a companion’s house for social interaction. Avias, Oleander, and Bo are at the store. And yes, a message. I want him to know we are all right. Perhaps set up a time to meet.
“Well, then I’m coming with you,” I reply. “You can’t go back to Zoúnkla on your own, Tirigan.”
I’ll be fine. You need to finish healing, Tirigan replies with authority. I gesture with my hands in irritation, but find the motion painful and cringe.
“Just wait twenty minutes, okay? I’ll go get cleaned up, and then we’ll go together. All right?” Tirigan doesn’t reply. He continues to stare at me blankly, but I can see a sliver of something working behind his eyes. “Come on,” I urge. “You can finish your medical degree while I get ready.”
Tirigan waits another moment, then sighs and pulls the backpack off his back again.
Fifteen minutes, he warns. He pulls a large book off of the desk we share and brings it back to his bed. He doesn’t look at me again.
“Fine,” I reply, already moving towards the door. I grab the Eidikós stones Oleander left for me. “Fifteen minutes. Promise.”
Tirigan’s nose is already in the book, and he doesn’t reply.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Not Broken…
As promised, fifteen minutes later I come down the stairs, my skin the silky golden brown I was born with and my hair grown out enough to tuck behind my ears.
“It’s shorter,” Tirigan states as he holds open the front door for me.
“Yep,” I reply, shortly. I don’t want to talk about how I was too tired to grow it out longer. I think I like it shorter anyway. Tirigan hands me a backpack and I pull it on.
We’ll need to hurry. I don’t know when Kor or Vi are set to return.
I’m ready. Let’s go. Tirigan doesn’t look convinced. It’s the first and only time he’s shown concern for me today.
Are you feeling all right?
“I’m fine, Tirigan. Let’s just go.”
I move past him, down the front stairs and begin walking towards town. Tirigan catches up quickly and we set off in silence. We walk that way for quite awhile, both of our minds closed.
I’d be lying to myself if I said I wasn’t embarrassed or disappointed with what happened earlier, but what’s done is done. There’s nothing I can do about it now. Despite how hard a time I give him, I’m really grateful for all the knowledge Tirigan has acquired since we’ve been here. I feel like all I ever do lately is study, but I know no matter how quickly I read or how much information I process, Tirigan is doing it in double time.
It bothers me sometimes, but Tirigan is special, and I really am proud of him. It doesn’t mean I don’t get irritated when he’s running his mouth about something I have yet to understand, but I’m smart enough to be grateful for him. I don’t know how far I’d get on this mission without Tirigan. I need my brother, and I know he needs me too. I help Tirigan through the parts of life he can’t logic is way through, and I keep him balanced. Or, at least I try. The last night my family was all together, Calla told me that Tirigan loved me more than I knew, but I do know. I know my brother cares for me in the only way he’s capable. I just wish I could feel it more often.
When we reach town, Tirigan leads us to a narrow path behind the buildings, that way we avoid walking by the shop. When we were studying on the train on the way to the festival, I read about the ability to camouflage yourself into mimicking your surroundings, but I haven’t read anymore about it since. I wonder if Tirigan has.
The steady rhythm of a train coming in from the East is almost comforting, bringing me that much closer to where I left my father. The hill Tirigan and I practiced our powers for the first time looms in the distance.
“What kind of message are we going to be able to leave?” I ask, walking faster to step in stride beside Tirigan instead of following behind him.
I’ve given it careful thought, and I think I’ve come to the best solution. We can carve a message into the tree that was at our camp near the waterfall. Something simple, not too informative, so as not to lead the Negral to us.
“Like what? We won’t be able to set up a meeting with him without actually naming a time and place.”
That is why it has to be in code. I think—
“Charlie! Hey! Wait up!”
Tirigan and I both freeze when we see Finn racing quickly towards us. His breath is ragged and strained, presumably because he’s run quite a ways to reach me.
“Finn, hi,” I say nervously. I’m not anxious to talk to Finn about the date that never was. “What are you up to?”
“I was just…” Finn doubles over and rests his hands on his knees as he catches his breath. He looks up at me with a big smile on his face. “… Over in the courtyard, playing Cruxie with the little ones.” He looks to my brother then and gives him a nod.
“Hey ya, Tirigan. What are you guys doing all the way over here?”
Tirigan’s eyes narrow as he inspects the young man before us. “Did you honestly run from the middle of town just to greet us?”
“Um,” Finn breathes heavy, his hands now on his hips. “Yeah. Kinda. Just wanted to— hey, you cut your hair!”
My fingers go up to fiddle with my shorter tresses.
“Yeah, I just thought a change would be nice,” I reply insecurely. Looking between Tirigan’s very confused expression and Finn’s extremely earnest one, I clear my throat and try to look as kind as possible. “Um, Finn, listen, we actually have to meet a friend in a few minutes.”
“Oh,” Finn says with obvious disappointment. “Okay, uh, cool.” He looks between us for a moment, and then lets his gaze settle on me. “I, well, I know you said you couldn’t do lunch yesterday, but I was wondering if you’d like to go for a hike sometime this week? There are some cool trails out in the woods where your house is.”
“Um, maybe,” I reply, shrugging and smiling at the same time. “I don’t know what we’re going to do. Vi is sick so she needs a lot of help right now.”
“Vi’s sick? I’m sorry to hear that. All right, well, just send me a call stone or drop by the station.” Finn licks his lips, his eyes darting between Tirigan and I again. He looks nervous, but not in the same way he was a moment before. His expression suddenly relaxes and then he’s backing away with a large toothy smile. “At least I got some good exercise today, huh?” He begins to jog backwards, waving at us as he departs.
“Yeah, that’s always good,” I reply and wave back. Tirigan continues to stare at him strangely, like Finn’s the oddest puzzle he’s ever failed to put together. When he’s finally out of earshot, Tirigan turns to me, his brow still pulled in confusion.
He is extremely odd.
“Coming from you, that’s quite the statement.” I start walking again, trying to close the distance between us and the hill at a faster pace than before.
He asked you to have lunch with him.
Yeah.
You declined his offer.
Yep.
Why?
Would you have said yes?
No.
Well, there you go.
Tirigan is silent for a few moments. He keeps pace with me, reaching the base of the hill the same time as I do.
Perhaps it would be good for you to become friends with Finn.
“It’s not like I’m against being the guy’s friend, Tir. It’s just I think he’s got a little more than friendship on his mind.” I try to sound casual, as if the statement is one I’ve had the opportunity to say before.
More than friendship?
“Yeah,” I reply. “You know.”
Tirigan pauses then lets out a quiet, “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
We don’t communicate again until we reach the trees of the forest. Tirigan is the one to break the silence again, something I have yet to get used to.
And that’s something you’re not interested in?
“What?” In the silence I tried to forget what we were talking about. I was nearly successful.
A romantic relationship with Finn, Tirigan clarifies. You aren’t interested?
“Not particularly, no.”
Why not?
I stop walking and turn to face my brother. This is something I didn’t expect to talk to him about and now that the subject is broached, I feel like I should be careful in how I proceed.
“Because I don’t have time for that. We have a mission, right?” Tirigan nods, but his brow is still furrowed. “What is it?”
If this wasn’t our life, if you had the opportunity for a romantic relationship without the constraints of our situation, would you have said yes?
“I did say yes,” I reply, shrugging. At first, before Bo told me I had agreed to a date. I figured I could use lunch as a way to get more information, maybe learn something new, but the whole date thing just made it too complicated. I didn’t want to deal with it.
But would you want to deal with it? Tirigan’s eyes are slightly wider than usual, a nervous frown pulling at his lips in a way that makes me want to reach out to him. I don’t.
“I guess, yeah. Someday. Sure. I’d like to go on a date.” I pause, softening my expression as much as physically possible. Would you?
Tirigan’s head jerks back slightly, like he’s been attacked by an imaginary foe. His mind shuts abruptly and he doesn’t speak for a few moments. His thumb and pointer finger rub together anxiously throughout his silence. He looks down at the ground when he finally answers.
“We should keep walking. We will be at the first barrier soon.” With that, Tirigan disappears in to the forest, leaving me to trail after him in disappointment. “We should also be prepared for the uncomfortable sensation we felt before, prior to when we passed through the barrier into Mitéra .”
“I guess that’s how we’ll know we made it through,” I reply absently, looking for something recognizable among the green and brown, and trying to let go of our conversation.
We walk for several more minutes, my body anticipating the rejection it felt when it approached the barrier from the other side last time we were here, but nothing ever comes.
“If I remember right, the barrier was a lot closer to the forest’s edge,” I call to Tirigan’s back.
He stops suddenly in front of a tree, his head angled up to look at the paper posted to it. It’s the sign we saw the first time we walked through this forest. It looks exactly the same, a large warning about dangerous monsters in the forest, covered in childish drawings.
“We must have already gone though the barrier,” I suggest quietly, suddenly afraid. “Maybe going back is different than going forwards…”
Tirigan doesn’t reply. Instead, he turns around sharply and sprints off in the direction we just came from, his feet barely hitting the ground.
“Tirigan!” I yell as I run after him. “What are you doing?!”
At this speed, we’re at the forest’s edge in just a couple minutes. When we get there, Tirigan’s shaking.
“It’s down,” Tirigan says steadily, not even remotely winded from our run. Charlie, the barrier is down.
CHAPTER TWENTY
…Just Different
We walk in silence again until we reach the cliff’s edge. It feels like a lifetime ago that we ascended this rock wall with our father, nothing but our bags on our backs. My mind whirs from our change of circumstance; it’s only nostalgia that pulls me forward. Peering out over the jungle, listening to the waterfall a little further east, I don’t have to strain to remember what it felt like standing here a few weeks ago.
I was confused. Scared. Overwhelmed. And now, I’m all of those things again and more because the barrier that was up just a few weeks ago, the barrier that split the world in half, is gone. We’ll have to travel to the edge of the jungle to be sure about the barrier into Anunnaki land, but if the one between the forest and Mitéra is down, it’s likely the other is too.
“What do you think it means?” I whisper to Tirigan.
I don’t know. I don’t quite understand the physics of the barriers either.
“What do you mean?”
How exactly are the barriers produced? Who is casting them? How are they able to sustain that level of power for so long?
“Well, maybe they can’t. Maybe that’s why the barriers are down right now. Whoever’s casting them needs to recharge?”
What cast would you use to not only raise the barrier, but create the paranoia it induces upon reaching it?
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “I haven’t really thought about it.”
I have, and I still do not have an answer.
If Tirigan’s given something serious thought and still can’t produce an answer, it might as well be unsolvable. The unprecedented event has my brother’s face pulled into a pitiful frown. I let out a sigh.
“Well, will you survive this great
tragedy?” I fasten the belt of my backpack around my waist as I tease him. “Because we should get down there and see if the other barrier is down too.”
Tirigan scowls but follows behind me as I begin to climb down the rock wall.
Be careful, I warn. We can’t use our powers here so don’t go breaking your neck.
If the barriers are down, it is possible this area isn’t currently being monitored.
Are you willing to take that chance?
Not at the moment. Tirigan agrees and follows behind me.
It only takes us a few minutes to climb down the cliff and make our way to the tree Tirigan had mentioned before.
“So, what’s this code you’ve come up with?” I ask my brother as I pull off my backpack and grab some water.
Tirigan pulls a knife from his ankle strap and sets his backpack on the ground by the tree. He doesn’t reply to my question, he just starts carving.
I let out an aggravated sigh at his silence, but I don’t push him. Instead, I pull out a small towel Tirigan had insightfully suggested I pack. The sun is harsher the farther we get from the Mitéra border, and we aren’t wearing our protective clothing. Sweat builds, collects, and falls from my brow. I wipe it away and dry the back of my neck as Tirigan continues to scratch a message into the tree.
When he finally steps back from the trunk, I read the message he’s inscribed there.
BIRTH.
SUNSET.
HEAL.
I smile proudly at my brother’s cleverness and resist the urge to pat him on the back. “We meet here on the day you and I were born, which is in two weeks, at sunset, on the river bank where I healed my wrist.”
Precisely.
Well done.
Thank you. Tirigan sheaths the knife back in his ankle strap, takes a few sips from his water bottle, and shoulders his backpack.
“We should check on the other barrier and get back before anyone realizes we’ve been gone for too long,” I suggest. I move towards the river, already calculating my path across. There are several large rocks that can be used as stepping stones.