by Alicia Fabel
“What happened to them?”
“They became disillusioned. We all did. Our tapestries were becoming riddled with strife and cruelty. The kirin were heartbroken every time they came across another soul who’d been shoved aside. There were so many people abandoned on the outskirts of civilization for the sin of being a mixed-breed. My people finally decided it was too painful, that they would be better off sequestered among their own. Unfortunately, the world followed this example. Communities closed off. Races secluded themselves. Everyone forgot the benefits of living and working and caring together. By the time they forgot how to awaken their children born with voids, most people chalked our kingdom up to myth.”
“Is Mu really gone?”
“Yes, and it is our fault that it is. We choose to fall into oblivion so we could keep our peaceful home for ourselves, and so we wouldn’t have to face the problems outside our kingdom. Only, when the world finally unraveled, we had no idea it was happening. And no one knew that our kingdom was there.”
“No one knew to stitch it to the meadow,” Vera concluded.
“Mu fell away. My father smuggled my sisters and me out just before. He knew something was happening, but the rest believed we would remain safe in our bubble. My sisters went to Earth—the seat of unrest—as my father instructed. I was sure he’d gone mad, but my sisters wouldn’t listen. They went as Father told them. When the world unraveled, they were trapped in Earth. I was making my way back to Mu but only made it as far as Shangri-la. That’s where I stayed for hundreds of years.”
“You are old.”
“Older than most dragons. Even older than Kale by a few years.”
“Is that normal?”
“No. I was determined to find a way back to my people even after the Unraveling. I was sure they had found a way to survive, but one lifetime was not enough time to figure out how. I pulled my strings from the tapestries and set them aside. As long as they remain that way, I cannot die. It is considered an unforgivable crime to my people, but as you are aware, I never was one for following the rules.”
“Obviously, you figured out how to move around the world unrestrained. Did you try to find Mu?”
“Of course, but they are not there. Mu is gone. Then I had Suzie. Being a single mom in Shangri-la was difficult enough. Having magic that people did not recognize meant having to hide from the wielders. It was nearly impossible, so I found some woods in another realm and made a home for us there. On occasion if I ran into a witch, my magic didn’t seem as odd to them. They seemed to think I was simply from a coven they’d never met before.”
“What about your sisters?”
“By the time I figured out how to move through the realms without detection, they were long gone, and so were their children and grandchildren.”
“There is weaver blood in Earth.”
“You would not be kirin without it.”
“We’re related?”
“You are my many-times-great niece. Suzie would have been a cousin—many times removed. All very distant.”
“This is…” Vera searched for the right word.
“Insane.” Marianna nodded agreeably.
Vera rubbed at a spot on her temple where she was developing a dull ache. “And now the people out there are planning to attack Earth, which will be that much easier now that you’ve destroyed the meadow.”
“The meadow needed to fall. Otherwise, the realms would’ve remained separated until they all died out. Now people will have no choice but to figure out how to exist together again. And right now, your friends are gathering their own army. Earth will not be destroyed easily.”
“They know about the attack.” Well that’s a relief.
“They are building an army to come against me. They have no idea that they will come face to face with an army.”
No. “They’ll be killed.”
“Some,” Marianna confirmed. “Others will live. And even more will start to question what they’ve always known to be true.”
“Marianna, I understand what you’re trying to do, but we need to stop this war.”
“That’s your job,” Marianna informed her.
“So I will stop this?”
“I don’t know.” Marianna shrugged. “There’re no more contingencies in place for the rest of this. You’ll either do what the threads predicted and save the world, or screw something up and the world will fall.”
“What are the odds I screw something up?”
“You’ve managed to go off script once, so it’s possible. But as long as you and Kale hold true to yourselves, you’ll be fine.”
“How about you read me your playbook, and then I’ll make sure this all ends well. And by ends well, I mean no one else dies, and there most certainly isn’t going to be a war.”
“I can’t tell you how anything will go,” Marianna told her. “Self-fulfilling prophecies and all. Knowing what will happen will ensure it all fails.”
“Then let me go to my friends. Let me warn them and stop a war.”
“I can’t do that, dear,” said Marianna. “You will stay here until the time is right.”
“I’m not going to just sit here.”
“You will if you want Mimi, Addamas, and their child to live.”
Vera glared. “You would kill them to keep me here?”
“Not me. I’m just telling you what’s in the threads. And if Mimi dies, her people will turn sides. You will not be able to stop the war, let alone win it. So many people will be slaughtered, and in another thousand years, the world will be gone. Earth won’t make it another hundred years.”
Vera put her hands over her face, trying to come up with an answer.
“You have a choice,” Marianna told her. “Save your friends now and watch them die later, or try to save them all, along with the rest of the world, once the armies face off.” Marianna rose to leave. “You don’t have to like what Suzie and I have done, but you cannot undo it. All you can do is move forward.”
This was not what Vera had expected when she faced off with Marianna. Maybe some de-brainwashing and a fight with some cats, but not this. Not armies and war. She watched Yama playing a dice game with a man below. There had to be a way to get this war stopped. And if it wasn’t by alerting her friends back at the meadow, then maybe she could stop it from this side.
19
As soon as Vera got a few feet away from Marianna’s house, it vanished. A step or two back and it was still there. No wonder people didn’t find Marianna if she didn’t want them to. She had stealth magic on her house.
Vera worked her way down the side of the bluff, opposite the army. She crossed back and forth as needed to avoid the hardest obstacles. The last stretch, she slid down on her butt after slipping on loose pebbles and sand. At the bottom, she looked up to see if anyone was coming after her, but it looked like an empty bluff. She straightened her spine and walked around toward the army, hoping to appear as if she belonged there. She’d been watching them all for the past hour. From what she could tell, nearly every realm was represented. Each group had staked out their own section and clustered together. Most of the magics were new to Vera, so she didn’t know what many of them were.
She loitered where the most human-looking creatures congregated until one of the Yamas was alone.
“You are in serious trouble, buddy,” she growled at him. “I don’t care if you are Satan’s second cousin.”
Yama grinned. “You’re finally here.”
She took a step back. “You say that like you were expecting me.”
“I was.” Yama looped an arm through hers. “Now let’s go collect on my bet.”
Vera dug in her heels.
“Problem?”
“Marianna told you I was coming?”
Yama winked. “Now I know that trick with Rufus was not nice, but I promise this will make up for it.”
“If you want to make it up to me, help me stop this madness. Who’s in charge?”
“No
one here is in charge,” he informed her.
“But there’s going to be a war.”
Someone nearby overheard her and cheered at that declaration.
“They’re very excited about that,” Yama noted. “New people like you are coming in every day to join the cause.”
“No one around here is like me,” she retorted.
Yama leaned his head against hers. “You’ll want to play along when we meet up with my friend, or things are going to get entertaining very quickly.”
“By entertaining you mean…”
“People will die.”
Vera closed her mouth.
“Petr! There you are. This is my friend, Vera.”
“You know who this is?” The man named Petr asked Vera, pointing at Yama.
“Yeeahh,” she drawled, trying to figure out if it was a trick question.
“Prove it,” he challenged.
Yama nodded encouragingly.
“Yama, ruler of Diyu,” she said.
The man gaped at her.
Yama beamed and kissed her cheek like a happy little boy. “Pay up,” he told Petr.
Only Petr didn’t approach Yama, he walked right up to Vera and said unhappily, “I didn’t believe it.”
Vera flinched when he grabbed both of her hands in his.
“What are you doing?”
“Let the man work,” Yama murmured.
And then Vera felt it, a storm rising inside her void. The hair on her arms stood on end as static rushed down them. Petr silently showed her how to attract and repel the static with a thought, and then he pulled away.
“There,” Petr grumbled.
“Wonderful,” said Yama.
“What are you?” Vera asked Petr before he could retreat.
“I’m a tempestarii,” he answered, pulling his shoulders back proudly.
A wielder from Lemuria? That explained the storm inside her void, since tempestarii harvested their magic from the weather. “Kanaloa’s not here, is he?” Vera asked Yama.
“You’ve met him,” Yama concluded.
“He tried to keep me.”
“He’s not the only one, doll.” Yama reached across to push her hair behind her ear.
The tempestarii gawked, and Vera batted Yama’s hand away.
The Infernal did not seem the least bit put out. He turned to Petr and his men and asked, “What are you going to do now?”
“I don’t know, but I can’t fight against her.”
Is he talking about me? Petr had looked right at her when he’d said it, but it didn’t make sense.
“It was nice doing business with you, Petr. Good luck getting your men out.”
Petr nodded gravely and the tempestarii melted away.
“I have no idea what just happened,” Vera told Yama.
“You unlocked another magic bobble.”
“Yeah, that part I got.” The storm thundered, vibrating inside her well. “But why did he unlock it? And why are they leaving?”
“They’re abandoning the army because they believe you will save their people.”
“They think that because…”
“I told them you would. And then you proved I wasn’t lying when you said my name.”
Vera raised a brow at that and waited for him to continue.
“People don’t say my name out loud. Unless they enjoy choking on their tongues.”
“My tongue is right where it’s supposed to be.”
“Which makes you the most fun person I’ve met in centuries,” Yama told her.
“You're serious.”
“Shall we do a demonstration?” Before Vera could catch him, Yama called out to a young man walking by. “Genie-boy, come here.”
The man looked like he wanted to go the other direction, but lines of blue geometric tattoos surfaced across his face, and he lurched over. Like he had no choice but to obey. Weird.
“Say my—”
“Stop!” Vera threw a hand over Yama’s mouth. The genie’s eyes had widened in horror as soon as Yama had begun the command.
“I was just trying to prove a point,” Yama told her.
“Would you have had to say it if he told you to?” Vera asked the genie.
“I am compelled to do whatever my master commands.”
“Yama’s your master?”
The man flinched at the name. “No. But my master commanded that I follow the Ruler of Diyu’s orders. Among others.”
“I didn’t realize genies had masters,” Vera said.
The man pressed his lips together.
“Oh, just tell the girl,” said Yama. “It’s not even a secret.”
“Anyone who knows our true name can command us,” answered the genie.
“Don’t you want to be here?” Vera asked.
“Not anymore,” said the Genie.
“But you did once,” Vera concluded.
The man gave her a dirty look. “And now you’ll report me for speaking out of turn, and my master will command me to kill myself.”
“That’s appalling. Who’s done that?”
The man slid a side-eye to Yama.
Vera swung on the Infernal. “Don’t you dare use them for your fun anymore, got it?”
“Or what?”
“Or I don’t save this flipping world and your underground torture playground goes bye-bye.”
Yama pouted. “You’re no fun.”
“I’m lots of fun as long as you don’t kill anyone.”
Yama’s eyes lit up.
“Or maim or mutilate them in any way,” she added.
He crossed his arms sullenly. “You have a ridiculous idea of fun.”
Vera shook her head and turned to the genie. “Why are you here?”
The man looked to Yama, who waved a hand for him to continue. “Our masters told us they would help us get our throne back. By the time we realized they intended to come into our realm and take over, it was too late to push them out.”
“You were that upset to have a morph on the throne?” It had been generations since a morph had ruled Heliopolis, but Mimi wasn’t the first. Vera didn’t understand why the genies opposed her so vehemently for taking after her mother instead of her father.
“We will never be mastered again.” The genie’s shoulders drooped. “That’s what we were trying to accomplish, anyway.”
“You thought your queen would try to master your people just because she’s a morph?”
“It is what morphs did. When they ruled, they were our masters. They compelled us to do their bidding until my people finally took the throne. After that, we hid our names where the morphs could never find them—so we would never be mastered again. And then that mongrel queen showed up.”
“If your names are hidden, what do you have to worry about?”
The genie snapped his mouth closed. The geometric lines flared on his cheeks, and he groaned as if he were in pain. That’s when Vera realized what was happening. Yama was the genie’s master and he’d told the genie to answer her questions. “Tell him he doesn’t have to answer me.”
“Why?” Yama asked with confusion.
“Just do it. I didn’t realize he was being compelled to talk to me in the first place.”
“Oh, all right,” Yama said. “You do not have to answer her questions.”
The genie relaxed and looked at her quizzically. “Why didn’t you let him compel me to answer?”
“Everyone has secrets. I have no right to make you tell me yours.”
“No one has ever offered to break a compulsion before. Not in all our histories.”
“I’m just crazy like that, I guess,” Vera replied.
“Who are you?” he asked.
Yama shook his head, but Vera felt the man should know. Not like it could do much harm. They were already marching on Earth. “I used to be a human of Earth. I’m still from Earth, but I have my magic now.”
“You weren’t a siphon?”
“I was, but I’m not anymore,”
she rushed on when the genie began backing away. “Siphons aren’t what people think.”
He seemed to consider. “I want to think you are lying, but everything you’ve done makes me believe you aren’t.”
“How can I get you and your people free?” Vera asked.
“You would have to change our true names. And no one can do that but our ruler.”
“Genie,” called a man. Yama pulled Vera back, shielding her from sight. “I have a job for you.”
“See that tree up there,” Vera pointed at the tree not far from Marianna’s porch. “Meet me there tonight. I think I know how to free you.”
The man’s eyes glimmered, and Vera had to swallow a knot in her throat.
“Genie!” shouted the man.
The genie skittered away, but not before saying, “I will be there when the moon is directly overhead.”
When he was out of earshot, Yama asked, “Why are you helping him?”
“He’s a prisoner.”
“Freeing them won’t weaken the army enough to help your friends—genies are not the best fighters. Not like the warlocks and Amazonian tribes.”
“Haven’t you ever helped someone just because it was the right thing to do?”
Yama considered the question. “I dragged Kale from the caves after he thought you were dead. So Rufus wouldn’t eat him.”
“Marianna didn’t tell you to make sure he lived?”
“Oh yep, she did. So no. I’ve never done—whatever you’re talking about. It doesn’t sound like fun.”
“Maybe you should try it. It might surprise you.”
Yama looked doubtful. “I’m supposed to make sure you sneak away in—oops, it’s right now. You only have a minute to get out of here or you’ll be captured.”
Vera looked at him with wide eyes.
“You should probably run.”
She did.
Kale, you need to get out here.
Kale hurried to answer Ferrox’s summons. He was ready to go.
Whoa there. It’s not the time for killing yet. Ferrox eyed the glaring little man in red. A scraggly hare sat beside him like a great dane. Around them were dozens of bloodthirsty leprechauns with darts. Or maybe it is.