Masters of the Veil

by Daniel A. Cohen

  The joy returned to the old man’s face.

  “Thank you for everything.” Sam left to find Glissandro, leaving the Mystics to their thoughts and drinks.

  It only took a few moments of wandering to hear the music. A horrible song filled the air, full of dissonant notes and off-key pitches. It scraped Sam’s ears like nails on a chalkboard. He almost didn’t want to follow it.

  “I don’t know why you got so mad,” Sam said when he found Glissandro leaning against the wide message tree.

  Glissandro started playing louder and more obnoxiously.

  “Whatever,” Sam yelled over the racket, “I can get back by myself, anyway.”

  Glissandro stopped playing the noise. He played a sharp note and Sam’s hand involuntarily rose in front of his face.

  “Look deep,” Glissandro played.

  Sam was forced to stare at his second-skin.

  “And tell me what you see.”

  Sam let out a gruff hmmph. “Snakeskin.”

  Glissandro shook his head. “Then that’s all you’re ever going to see.” He holstered his instrument and started down the mountain.

  CHAPTER 19

  Sam woke up.

  “May is a hard worker.”

  The light went on, and Sam saw the letter from his parents on the table next to his hammock. A lipstick mark smudged the seal, and an orange stain—probably from some flavored snack chip—stained the corner. After getting the silent treatment from Glissandro the whole trip back, he’d been too emotionally drained to read it when he’d seen it there last night.

  Now it was morning. Sam was about to slide a finger through to break the seal but decided against it.

  If today’s going to be anything like yesterday, I’ll want some comforting words from brainwashed parents to come back to.

  The events from the mountain rushed back into his head. The Mystics had given him answers, and they’d made Stanton safe to go back to. He would still be the king there, and when he left and the Tembrath Elite came to him, he could tell them to find someone else. It was as simple as that.

  But he still felt an embarrassing coat of depression.

  Sliding out of the hammock, the tenderness in his quads barked at him. He bent down to stretch out the morning soreness and felt pressure against his thigh.

  He’d forgotten about the fruit Bariv’s snake had given him. Taking it out of his pocket, he held it up against the light. The perfect red fruit now had a bruise on it. The flaw was small, the size of a thumbprint, but it was there, and it was leaking.

  That’s just fantastic. Why did I put it in the same pocket as a giant diamond?

  The trickle of juice coming from the fruit was tantalizing in a peculiar way. It was glowing, which by now wasn’t an oddity in itself, but the glow seemed weirdly familiar.

  Normally, he wouldn’t drink something that had its own light source, but the juice dripping down his thumb emitted the most fantastic smell. The scent brought on something like déjà vu, but different. It smelled almost like a flash of events that had occurred over his lifetime. It took him back to his first touchdown, the sun-warmed grass and rubber scent of his mouthpiece. No, maybe it was his first kiss, Jenny’s perfume and the sweet, passionate smell of young lust. A few more memories passed through his mind, but he still couldn’t fit the scent to any one of them. Whatever it was, he yearned to taste it, and his stomach rumbled.

  He placed the fruit in his diamond-less pocket and licked the juice off his hand.

  “Hmm.” Sam smacked his lips. Maybe it was all of those memories? He’d eat the rest later at lunch and try to decide.

  He went through the smoky wall and entered Atlas Crown. This time, however, he wasn’t late or early. All around him, people exited the pillars and set up the shops. Waking with everyone else kind of made him feel like a part of the works.

  His stomach grumbled even louder.

  He tried to burp to release some of the now-building pressure. The small belch he got out did nothing to ease the rumbling noise. He put a hand on his abs and felt his stomach vibrating.

  All of a sudden, his stomach felt light, like it wasn’t there anymore. Then his head felt light. The weightless feeling traveled down the back of his neck, his spine, his waist and then all the way to his still-grounded feet.

  He burped even louder, loudly enough to attract glances from a few townspeople.

  Then he felt warm.

  It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, but it was overwhelming. It wasn’t like he was burning, but rather like his whole body was sitting the perfect distance from a roaring fireplace. His whole body, inside and out.

  A gurgling noise came from his throat.

  “Umm, help,” Sam managed to get out. “What’s happening?”

  Some of the closest people started moving toward him, at a pace that showed they were concerned, but not in a panic. A young girl and her mother got there first.

  “Are you hurt?” the woman asked calmly.

  “I,” he involuntarily made the gurgling sound again, “ate this—”

  He couldn’t speak anymore; whatever was taking place in his body had stolen the entirety of his concentration. He couldn’t focus on anything but the warmth.

  The heat entered his head and feet simultaneously, and then moved to his chest, gathering there before making its way down his arm and settling in his second-skin. The pressure and heat built around his fingers, and his hand started to shake.

  The woman waved her second-skin over Sam’s forehead, but it did nothing.

  Just as Sam thought his hand was going to fold in on itself, he felt a surge of emotion.

  The Veil. It was magnificent. But this time it wasn’t like the rush of a train, it was like the whole earth was rotating under his hand and he was trying to hold on for dear life.

  BOOM.

  ***

  After the explosion, Sam could see only red light. Atlas Crown was no more, and all that remained was bright, intense red. His body was immersed in a shimmering red universe composed only of surging power, and Sam was a part of it.

  “Sam” was no more. He was now part of a limitless energy, power that he could never have fathomed.

  Then the red started collapsing in on itself.

  White light stained the edge of the red as it folded down countless times.

  Sam cowered back as the red crashed upon him and into his second-skin. The skin was red and the stars were red. He felt himself dissolve into his hand, and eventually disappear altogether.

  Then all was silent.

  Suddenly, everything become solid again, like his soul had been thrown back into his body. He opened his eyes.

  It was dark, but Sam could see dirt in front of him. The first thing he checked was his second-skin. Relief flooded through him when he found it intact.

  “Whoa.” The memory of the red place started fading away, like it had all been a wild dream. He tried to hold onto the sensation of all that power, but it was useless. “What was that?”

  He ran his hands over his body to make sure he wasn’t hurt. He didn’t feel any pain, and everything was still intact. It was like nothing had happened.

  He turned in place. All around him was more dirt and roots. Light filtered in from above, and he realized he was in a hole, like a large well.

  “Are you down there?” a voice shouted from above.

  After a cough, Sam was able to yell. “Yes!” He ran a hand over his throat, glad to have control over his voice again.

  “Don’t move!” the voice shouted.

  Like I could go anywhere.

  It only took a moment for his body to start lifting out of the hole.

  Fernando set him on his feet. “Let me take a look at you.” His second-skins twitched at his sides. “Does it hurt anywhere?”

  “No.” Sam looked himself up and down. “I’m fine.”

  Crowds of people stared wide-eyed at Sam, apparently waiting to see if something else was going to happen. Sam held still as Fer
nando waved his two second-skins across his body, leaving a trail of small tingles wherever the skins passed. A sense of calmness engulfed him, like it had with that spell May had put him under.

  Then Sam saw something that made his stomach churn worse than before.

  The mother who’d been trying to help him before cradled her daughter in her arms. The girl’s forehead dripped blood. The mother’s eyes were closed as she brushed her second-skin over the little girl, muttering something that sounded like a prayer. Sam saw blood seeping through the girl’s robe, as well.

  He burst away from Fernando and ran to them. The pleasant, complacent feeling waned as soon as he broke from Fernando’s grip.

  Sam’s breathing was frantic. “What happened?”

  “Please,” the woman’s voice was calm as she made a pass over her daughter’s face, “give us some space.”

  “How can I help?” Sam dropped to his knees next to them. “What can I do?”

  “SOMEONE CALL THE ALLU!” The woman cried out.

  Fernando sent a spiraling black mist into the sky, which let out a firecracker sound three times as it hit its pinnacle. The black swirled into a circle cut through the middle by an arrow pointing down to their location, where the little girl was turning sickly pale.

  The woman looked at Sam with pain in her eyes, a kind of pain Sam had never seen before. “Some space… Please.”

  That one word pierced him deeply. His heart crumbled.

  He stumbled backward and searched for a friendly face, but the crowd gazed at him with cold suspicion. Even Fernando looked uneasy. All Sam wanted to do was run.

  It was the football game all over again.

  He ran like he was being scouted. He passed the rinsefish fountain, the library, and a bunch of buildings that seemed to be defying gravity. He ran by people sitting cross-legged on blankets in small circles, and around a patch of fire that a few sorcerers were making stand still. As he sprinted, he aimed for the three-pronged pillar.

  Suddenly, he heard the one voice he would stop for.

  “Sam!”

  May was actually flying toward the place Sam was fleeing, determination in her eyes. She tore through the air like a missile and settled to the ground in front of him.

  Sam bent over, putting his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

  May bent down to lock eyes. “What are you running from?”

  “I… did something.” Sam tore his eyes away and looked at the ground.

  “What happened?”

  Sam sucked in as much air as his lungs could hold. “I hurt someone. A little girl.”

  “On purpose?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Who?”

  “I don’t know! It was this young girl. I just woke up and went outside and then I, like, felt something weird and there was this energy and…”

  “Go on.”

  “It exploded around me. It was like what happened with the cornerback after the game, only worse. I ended up in a huge crater, and when I was pulled out, the girl was bleeding.”

  “Sam.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay.”

  He felt his face get hot. “It’s not, she—”

  “She will be fine.” May lifted Sam’s chin up with her finger so they were face to face. “Healing is one of the first things the people in our community learn after Omani. I see that the Allu Shaman have been called. They are the best healers in the world and they can get anywhere in Atlas Crown in a matter of minutes. Everything will be fine. I promise.”

  Sam felt heat behind his eyes, making them glaze over. It was something he hadn’t felt in a long time. He felt a single teardrop roll down his cheek. “You didn’t see the look in her eyes.”

  “The little girl?”

  He didn’t want to remember the agony in the mother’s expression. He’d never seen that kind of pain before, let alone caused it. On the football field, he’d seen agony from twisted knees, torn ligaments, and even a broken bone or two. But the mother’s pain transcended physical; it made him feel cold just to know it existed.

  “I don’t belong here.” Sam wiped the tear away with his knuckle. “I just want to go home.”

  “I’m sorry, Sam, not just yet. Now more than ever, you need to learn how to control your abilities.”

  “Then when?” Sam shouted as he stood up. “I know about the Tembrath Elite. I know that they want me to join them, to help them get past the Veil. So when are you going to let me go? When they all die?”

  May stayed silent for a moment, her face solemn. “I’m so sorry, Sam. It’s just too risky right now. We can’t afford—”

  “Whatever!” Sam spat. “I should have known you were a liar from the minute I met you, Agent Greenford.”

  May looked down at her second-skin. “A few more days. I’ll sort things out.”

  “Yeah, right,” Sam said with a snort.

  “I am not a liar, Sam.” Fear widened her eyes. “But there is a reason I have remained vague with you.”

  “Two days.” Sam clenched his teeth. “Not a minute more.”

  “Fine.” May gave him a gentle nod as she turned to go.

  “FINE!”

  He ripped off his robe and threw it on the ground. He still had the jersey on underneath, proudly displaying his number. He took off his second-skin and shoved it into the pocket on his thigh. One-of-a-kind or not, it was doing more harm than good.

  He gave up on the idea of joining the rest of his group and ran until he was deep in the woods. He sped past a troupe of rainbow-colored rodents, a giant spider-web in the shape of a tree, and round birds that looked like puffer-fish, floating on tiny wings in the air. He stopped for none of them. When he did finally halt, it was because of the ringing in his ears.

  I must be close to the borders.

  He kept moving in the direction he was going, and the ringing got louder, until it was like a smoke detector going off inside of his head.

  He reached out a hand and felt the invisible barrier stopping him. He wondered if trying to smash through it would do anything, or if it would be like the pillar wall.

  The ringing made him feel unbalanced and dizzy, like he was about to fall over. He backed away from the border and the annoying sound diminished.

  This is ridiculous; I’m a prisoner.

  He stared at the border for a few minutes, trying to decide what to do. Maybe I could go underneath?

  “You can’t get through!” a voice called out from behind him.

  Sam closed his eyes and breathed in through his nose. He stood still and pretended not to hear. He hoped that whoever it was would just leave him alone.

  Unfortunately, he could hear the footfalls getting closer.

  “Sam?”

  He exhaled and turned around, and then his jaw dropped.

  It was Cassiella, but not the Cassiella he remembered.

  She was ravishing. Her hair was no longer held back by the yellow mushroom, but hung delicately at her shoulders, playfully dancing in the breeze. Her skin had a slight glow to it, and her eyes were almost too beautiful to look at. Instead of the shy girl from before, her aura had become confident and sexy. She was the same girl, but it was like something had been dulling her good looks, something that she had escaped from.

  “You won’t be able to get through.”

  Even her voice was enticing. What changed?

  “Why not?” Sam felt the anger in his chest slide away at the sight of her. “I seem to be very good at breaking things lately.”

  “That’s some serious magic.” She sauntered up and gently placed a finger on his chest. Her eyes were so stunningly bright that he almost had to look away. “It can keep out very powerful people.”

  “Yeah, so I’m told.”

  “I was on my way to Rona’s lesson and I saw you running.” She smiled and locked her hands behind her lower back. She bit her bottom lip, which sent a lustful shiver through Sam’s body. “I couldn’t keep up, but I used the Veil to follow you
r steps. I hope you don’t mind.”

  Sam was about to say that in fact he did mind, but the way she was looking at him…

  “No,” Sam shrugged, “it’s fine.”

  “Good.” She bent to the side and looked behind him. “What are you doing out here?”

  “I just… needed to get away.”

  She flashed a smile at him. It made Sam go weak in the knees.

  “Mind if I get away with you?” Her voice was almost suggestive.

  He felt a certain stirring. “I guess not. Want to sit on that log over there?”

  She giggled. “That’s not a log.”

  “What are you talking about?” He picked up a small stone and tossed it underhanded at the log. As soon as it made contact, a reptilian head popped out of the hollow. Four legs—complete with nasty claws—emerged from the rotted holes on the sides. The creature’s beady eyes glared at Sam before it skittered off.

  Sam almost felt like laughing… almost. “Note to self: don’t sit on turtle-logs.”

  “Actually, they don’t mind so much. When I was a kid we used to ride them around, but they don’t like being woken up.”

  Sam sighed and shook his head. “This place makes no sense.”

  Cassiella flicked her hair. “You just need to give it more time.”

  “I think I gave it plenty.”

  “How about we take a walk?” Instead of being meek, her question was full of confidence, and Sam was powerless against it.

  He gave an agreeable shrug. “Okay.”

  “I know you’ve been having a tough time.” She ran a hand through her hair.

  “No, I’m fine.”

  “…Sam.”

  Again, he felt powerless. “I just want to go and play football. This place is great and everything, but I think it’s time I got back.”

  “But you haven’t even seen anything yet.”

  Sam thought about the look in the mother’s eyes. “I’ve seen enough.”

  “You can’t just run away when things get tough.”

  “You can when you’re as fast as me.”

  Cassiella stopped and looked him square in the eyes. The change in her was unnerving. “Football is a game, right?”

  “Yes, but it’s more than—”