by Indie Gantz
Changing the subject, combined with my switch to speaking aloud, will make it pretty obvious that I have something to hide, but I don’t care. I allow Tirigan’s incoming thought entry, keeping my own thoughts hidden.
I don’t think we should inform our hosts about what dwells in the jungle. Its captivity is a mystery, and one I’m uncomfortable sharing until I’ve found a plausible answer. Tirigan pauses, perhaps waiting for me to argue, but I see no need. He’s probably right. Kor and his family are already taking a big risk keeping us here, especially in light of our new powers, the last thing they need is another reason to find our species dangerous. When I don’t reply, Tirigan continues. We should ask Kor about Obispo. Perhaps the answer lies with him.
“And if it does?” I question, a small twinge in my chest. “It might be the key to finding Calla, and then we’d have to leave. You know that, right?”
Tirigan scoffs. Of course, that is the whole point of us being here. Is it not?
“Yeah, I know...” I reply, not even sure where I’m going with this but already regretting it. “It’s just you seem to be getting pretty close to... everyone, and I want to make sure you remember why we’re here.”
Tirigan’s mind snaps closed. It takes him a minute to respond. “Close?”
“Yeah, I mean, you let Avias hear you. That’s a pretty big deal, Tirigan.”
Another long pause.
“What are you implying?” he asks cautiously.
“Nothing. I just want to make sure you know what you’re doing there.” I roll back to my back and fidget with the hem of the blanket. “I’m glad you’re making friends. I just want to make sure you’re not getting too close, you know?”
“I’m not.” Something’s being left unsaid, but I don’t push him.
“Neither of us have ever made a friend before.” My voice shakes slightly. “It is pretty great, having all of them. Isn’t it?”
“The process has been a lot less stressful than I thought it would be.”
“That’s the spirit.” I give an exaggerated pump of my fist into the air. Tirigan chuckles softly from across the room. We settle back into silence until thoughts of Oleander push me to speak again. “What should we do about Oleander?”
“Do?” Tirigan echoes.
“Yeah,” I reply. “Do.” I let out a sigh and close my eyes, wishing my life could be even the slightest bit less complicated. “You know, with the whole existential crisis we’ve forced him into.”
“I would not claim his crisis to be an existential one,” Tirigan responds haughtily. “If anything-“
“You know what I mean,” I snap back. “With our newly discovered powers, his entire foundation of life has blown up in his face. That’s got to mess with you.”
“We’ve managed well enough.”
“Yeah, but this is different. People put so much of themselves into their beliefs. Challenging them is difficult.”
Tirigan’s quiet again for some time, long enough for me to wonder if he’s fallen asleep.
“I find myself interested in the origination of the Divine Spirit dogma,” he says eventually. “Have you given it much thought?”
“Some,” I reply. “Not much though. I just figure it’s one more human religion.”
“Yes, but we don’t know the origin stories of this religion. Christianity had Adam and Eve. Hinduism had the Rigveda. Islam had Al-Badi. What do believers of the Divine Spirit have? What is their origin story?”
“I don’t know. Oleander seems to be the only one who takes it seriously, though. I don’t think all Téssera subscribe to it.”
“Yes,” Tirigan responds quietly. “I think you are right.”
“Can you write that down somewhere?” I joke. “Maybe sign and date it?”
Tirigan grumbles in response. “I’m going to sleep now. Please refrain from letting your thoughts of Oleander, our powers, or our relationship with this family keep me up.”
I let out an endeared sigh at my brother’s overt brattiness. “Sure thing,” I reply, wishing he could appreciate the eye roll I give him in the darkness.
I try to settle my mind, successfully letting go of Oleander’s issues and my destructive powers, but I can’t seem to shake the reminder that all of this is temporary.
It will be difficult, leaving our new friends, but nothing’s more important than finding our mother. We don’t even know if Calla is alive at this point, but we have to try, even if a part of me wishes to stay in this house for as long as they’ll keep me.
Maybe we could have our trailer back and park it in the backyard of this house. Oleander could make two more chairs and maybe extend the kitchen table so we could all fit around it. Kor and my mother were close once, they could be again. I know John would get along well with everyone. He’s congenial and funny even when he doesn’t mean to be. We could be happy here. All of us together.
Except, not all of us. John couldn’t live here. We can’t be sure the barrier will stay down, and how would we explain his presence to other Téssera? There’s only so long he could blend in.
A soft whimper escapes my lips, and I don’t stifle it in time to hide it from Tirigan.
What is it now? Tirigan groans, turning to his back in a dramatic huff.
I contemplate keeping the thought to myself, but eventually give up and open my mind. We can’t have them all.
What? His tone’s confused but still every bit as temperamental.
We can’t keep our friends and have our father, too, I reply slowly, ignoring my brother’s mood and holding onto my grief. We don’t even know if Calla’s alive, but if she is, she won’t be able to go back onto Anunnaki land. Even if the barrier is down, what kind of life can she have if we’re always running? We can’t have them all.
Tirigan’s quiet for so long I worry he’s proven himself to be a robot after all, and he’s fallen asleep during my emotional moment. With his mind closed off again, I feel completely alone.
Just when I’m about to turn over and cry myself to sleep, Tirigan speaks. “I don’t want to leave them either.”
His words are haunting, the tone full of more emotion than I expect from him. It takes me a minute to figure out what to say in response.
“Them?” I ask carefully. “Or Avias?”
“Don’t,” he warns.
“I’m not trying to… I don’t mean anything by it. I’m just curious.” I prop myself up on my elbow and face Tirigan’s bed again. “You let him hear you, but not anyone else. Everyone else is just as—”
“You know how difficult it is to filter out our emotions when our minds are open,” Tirigan argues half-heartedly.
I want to remind him that he learned to lock his emotions away a long time ago, but decide not to. Something’s changing in Tirigan, and despite how much I want to protect him, I don’t really want it to stop.
“Yeah,” I reply instead. “I know.” There’s another moment of silence. The air is thick and waiting.
“I trust him,” Tirigan whispers.
“But not the others?” I ask.
“It’s different.” Tirigan turns over again and gives me his back.
“How so?” I press, curious but also aware that I may be stepping over the line.
“It just is,” Tirigan responds shortly. “I’m going to sleep now.”
I let out an annoyed sigh. “Avoid much?”
“Annoy much?” Tirigan mumbles back.
I grunt and fall onto my back, closing my eyes in protest. “At least we know you haven’t gotten any funnier. That’s a nice constant.”
“I could say the same for you,” Tirigan murmurs.
“Humph,” I protest, settling more into my mattress.
Tirigan says nothing more, but I know he isn’t asleep yet. He’s thinking the same things I am, which makes it nearly impossible to fall asleep.
Leaving this house is going to be very difficult, but it must be done if we want to try to bring our own family back together. Whatever we feel for our friends, it i
sn’t more than that what we feel for our parents.
Calla and John come first. If we save Calla, we can meet John back in the jungle. We could live there, the four of us. There are other places we could go, too. John suggested there were other areas around the world that both species can enter. There really is a chance we could bring our family back together.
As far as our new friends, if everything works out, maybe we can visit them from time to time.
It’s a nice fantasy. It settles my mind enough to finally let me fall to sleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
A Meeting of Minds
Obispo.
The word continues to plague us. Tirigan and I have spent several hours over the last week trying to find out what that combination of letters mean. We continue to study our books, spar with our friends— both elementally and physically— and I continue to help in the shop while Tirigan plays football or practices flying with Avias. But, we devote any spare moment we have to finding out what the message meant.
We can’t even be sure it was left for us, but until we know what it means, we have to keep searching. Whoever left the message in the jungle went through a lot of trouble by putting it in the tree tops, hiding it from any potential Anunnaki that could pass by. It has to be important.
Tirigan and I debated about whether to tell Kor, but eventually decided to wait it out. In a lot of ways, it’ll be better if Tirigan and I get the information we need on our own, and then move on. Harder, but better.
We’ve spent most of today in our bedroom since Avias and Oleander have gone to their last practice before their final match next week, and Bo’s working at the shop. We take turns quizzing each other and practicing invoking different elements, while also taking breaks and to search indexes for the word Obispo.
Neither of us attempt to invoke what is apparently two halves of the fifth element, the idea a bit too daunting to just try again on a whim. What would we do?
Tirigan could create a hairbrush to tame what seems to be an intentional decision Avias makes every morning? I could destroy the cabbage on my plate because its smell tends to offend me? What if I accidently destroyed all the cabbage in the house? What if the hairbrush Tirigan creates has a mind of its own and starts following Avias around the house, torturing his skull with its coarse bristles?
The thought pulls a quiet laugh from me, which distracts Tirigan from his studies long enough to give me an irritated glance. I obviously can’t concentrate at the moment, so I shut my book and hop up from bed.
“I’m hungry. Lunch?”
Tirigan stands but doesn’t say anything. He continues reading as he walks past me and into the kitchen.
We eat on the front porch, two books between us and a bag full of stones to attempt casting the other four elements into. By the time Kor’s truck pulls through the trees and drives toward the house, Tirigan and I each have a large pile of unsuccessfully casted stones in front of us. Instead of the Eidikós stones we attempt to cast of other elements, all of our stones glow light and dark shades of indigo, and none of them work the way we want them to. The pile in front of Tirigan is light; the pile in front of me is dark. Light and Dark. Creation and Destruction. It’s all a little too epic for my blood.
Kor climbs out of his car and slowly heads up towards the house.
I hadn’t even realized Kor had left the house, but then again, I’ve been a little busy avoiding him. Ever since my little accident with the sun and then his speech about secrets, Kor has been noticeably distant from me, too. I don’t know if it’s because he thinks I tried to harness the power of the sun to hurt him, or because he knows I’m aware that there’s something more to him. Either way, something has shifted between us.
“Afternoon,” he greets with an expectant edge. “I think you two might want to join me in the house.”
“What?” Looking up at Kor, my mind instantly supplies me with things Tirigan and I could be getting into trouble for.
“Just came back from the call office.” Kor holds up a small brown box and shakes it slightly. “My contact replied to the message I sent him.”
I don’t know if it’s physically possible, but it feels like my heart stops and then resets to an entirely different rhythm. My mouth goes dry, and it tingles slightly around my jaw where I’ve it clamped shut.
Kor said he would contact someone who might be able to help us find our mother weeks ago. I knew I’d be both excited and nervous for the reply, but I didn’t realize how terrified I would feel waiting at the precipice of new information.
“Care to form a listening party?” Kor’s tone is lighter now, but I can still see apprehension in his eyes. His gaze falls to the piles of failure scattered in front of us. “No success with the stones?”
“We don’t appear to have the ability to produce Eidikós stones of any other element, although we can obviously invoke them directly. We each also seem to only be able to cast one half of this fifth element,” Tirigan informs him. “I’m not sure if our deficiency is permament or due to a lack of practice.”
“Could be either,” Kor replies with a shrug. “Your essence is what’s cast into the stone, not the essence of the element.”
“Oleander said—” I try to explain, but Kor interrupts with a smile.
“Oleander is a very smart young man, but there are still things he has yet to learn.” Kor takes a couple steps towards us. “The essence of an element is tranfered into a stone when it’s cast, but that essence doesn’t come from the element, but from you. Your expression of your element. Each of you seem to have taken the piece of your element that is most compatible with your essence. You may never be able to cast the other half of this fifth element, or the other four elements into stones.” He shrugs. “Or, you may just need time to learn to focus outside of yourself. The essence of your element is naturally going to be more dominate than the others. It may take time for you to be able to control which element you express into stones. Only time will tell.”
Tirigan and I share a look of understanding. It seems like everything we do needs time. I’m getting tired of waiting.
Kor shakes the box with the call stone again and raises it up enticingly. My brother and I immediately jump up from our places on the porch, Tirigan knocking his cup of water over as he goes. He catches it with a casual flick of his wrist just as water is toppling over the rim, forcing the water back inside of the cup. We leave everything on the porch and follow Kor inside.
Vi’s in the living room sewing the hems of what looks like a copy of the tunic I bought from her at the festival. There’s a stack of them beside her on the couch.
“Porter responded,” Kor says by way of greeting, and Vi’s hands still in their ministrations. She swallows thickly, and then places the unfinished tunic and her needle and thread down on the living room table. She gives us a tentative smile.
“Is Porter a friend?” I ask, noticing the immediate tension at the mention of the man’s name.
“Something like that,” Kor answers. He avoids my gaze.
“Well, let’s have a listen, shall we?” Vi prompts, forcing me to let the question go.
Tirigan and I both nod eagerly, and Kor opens the box. He pulls out a large white stone that shimmers when the light from the window hits it. He places the stone in the palm of his hand then quirks an eyebrow up at Tirigan and me.
“Ready?” He gestures towards the floor. “Porter can be a bit long winded. You may want to get comfortable.”
My knees buckle easily. I hurry to sit cross-legged on the floor. Tirigan joins me, and Kor finds a seat in a large chair next to the sofa Vi sits on.
“All right,” I say, nodding again. “We’re ready.”
Kor sucks in a breath as if preparing to do something more complicated than invoking what’s probably a relatively easy Eidikós cast. He narrows his eyes at the stone, and a moment later, the white shimmering light from inside the stone begins to seep out like smoke. A man’s voice echoes into the room, distance
in the sound.
“I was surprised to hear from you, Kori. I assumed you’d be too busy growing your tomatoes or radishes...” The man says each vegetable’s name like curse word, “… or whatever it is you do to occupy yourself down there.”
Kor lets out an annoyed sigh as he looks over to Vi on the couch. She smiles at him, an endeared glint in her eye.
“I knew you’d grow bored of your domestic naivety eventually,” Porter continues. “I just thought your iron-will would last a little longer.” He lets out a sigh that blows static air into the stone. It sounds as if he’s never been more bored in his life. “Well, I guess I should answer your questions, seeing as how you barely made it through your version of pleasantries before asking them.”
I give Kor a questioning look, but he shakes his head in disregard of Porter’s claim.
“Missing Téssera? Yes, there’s an influx of missing Téssera. It’s not being reported because the High Coven doesn’t want it known, but Téssera are going missing all over the world. But that’s old news.”
Kor’s brow furrows, but I can’t tell if it’s from concern or irritation.
“We’ve got a report of an entire town vanishing, though, which is fun and new.” He pauses and lets out another long, labored sigh. “I know you believe you have responsibilities, Kori, and a small part of me sympathizes. A very small part. But while you bury your head in the proverbial sand, we are here, fighting for the truth. I don’t know why you asked about the missing persons, but I’ll take it as a sign that you’re interested in returning. If that’s the case, come to Obispo.”
Tirigan and I find eachother’s eyes instantly, a silent victory shared between us. Obispo is a place. We just have to find it on a map.
“Leave the brats, bring the brats, I don’t care,” Porter continues. “I have things to show you, and when I’m done, you won’t be able to say no.” There’s a tremor in the man’s voice, and Kor’s eyes grow less irritated and more concerned. “I know you’re bored. I know you’re itching for something real to do. Just come.” There’s another short pause and then Porter adds, “Neva sends her regards.”