Resonance

by Dianne J Wilson

  He slipped a hand to the base of her neck, positioning fingers over her vocal chords and sending his thoughts into her head. They flew at her like crows, black and fast. Blinding pain shot through her brain.

  This was not what she wanted. She opened her mouth to tell him, but his words came tumbling out of her mouth and echoed through the chamber, amplified by the vaulted, rocky ceiling.

  The more she surrendered to the flow of words, the less pain sliced through her skull. Words danced across the crowd in front of her and understanding dawned in their eyes and faces. Some embraced what they heard and threw their arms around each other, while others stood with expressions of rapture.

  Surely this was good? It looked good from the outside. But why was her stomach in a knot?

  ~*~

  Kai paddled himself away from the dome house back toward the doorway to the spirit cuttings. Beaver had decanted Healing Stream water for him, which he carried in a bag on his back. It should be enough to get him safely through the cuttings. As for navigating, he was going to trust Tau to show him the way as before.

  Something splashed behind him and he spun around to see what it was. “Bree! What are you doing?”

  The girl was swimming after him, even though she only had one good arm. He rotated the boat around and hauled her onboard. She was soaked through and shivering.

  “You left me.”

  “It’s safer for you here. If you thought the desert was bad, you have no idea what we’ll be up against.” He frowned. “I don’t even know. I just can’t worry about you.”

  Bree wiped the water from her eyes, and her hands balled into fists at her hips. “I will not be left behind again.” Even as the water dripped off the tips of her hair, the waves were coming back. By the time it was dry, he’d be willing to bet his left arm that her curly mop would be back in full force.

  “Your hair.” He couldn’t help grinning. “It’s going curly again.”

  She rolled her eyes at him, looking so much like the old Bree that he struggled to breathe.

  “What happened back there? You haven’t been yourself since the desert and now...” He waved a hand over her, at a loss for words.

  “I don’t know. I feel like I’ve been asleep, trapped in an endless bad dream, but being here, woke me up.” Her eyes lost focus as she tried to puzzle it out. “Anyway. It’s beside the point. Apparently, you need to get a move on. So let’s go.”

  ~*~

  Shasta led Evazee from the room, keeping her tucked close to his side.

  “Sir, can we bring them in now?” The man who called for Shasta’s attention had solid black eyes and writhing snakes on his forehead.

  “Has the web filled the cuttings? You know we cannot move until it has.” Shasta released his hold on Evazee and drew the man away.

  Evazee stared at the man’s black eyes and writhing snakes and struggled to make sense of the images. Shasta drew the man further down the passage, where they spoke in voices too quiet for Evazee to hear.

  Low growls and snarls echoed from the passage beyond them, followed by the tapping of clawed feet on stone. Evazee’s blood ran cold. DarKounds. She backed away instinctively and with each step away from Shasta, her mind cleared. This was all wrong.

  34

  Kai and Bree stood on the central ball, trying to decide which bridge to take. None of them glowed, and Kai wondered whether a drop of Healing Stream water would help. Bree was violently opposed to the idea, so they were stuck.

  Bree’s hair dried into a wild mop of flaming orange, and all her cheek had come back. She glared at Kai now, one eyebrow lifted. “I don’t know if it will help, but I have this thing.”

  “What thing? We don’t have time for games, Bree.”

  She hesitated for a moment and then pulled the back of her jumpsuit down while bending her head forward. “I have numbers. I’ve always had them, but I didn’t know what they were. All of the slum dwellers did. We assumed they were to keep track of us. But I don’t know so much now. They look like the numbers you used with that navigation thingy.”

  Kai stepped close and examined her neck. “You could be right.” They had nothing to lose. He took out his device and punched in the number. The device whirred to life and lit up along a pathway.

  Bree’s mouth pulled into a tight line. Kai took her hand, and they followed. The door at the end was a solid slab of midnight-black marble. It drew back with a hiss as they got closer and stepped out into a world so familiar, it made Kai’s head ache.

  A tall hedge of glowing green plants stretched away into the distance, a seemingly impassable obstacle. “I know where we are.”

  Bree nodded. “Slums are back that way.”

  “And the Healing Stream is on the other side of this green mess. How do we get through?”

  Bree shrugged. “We walk. There must be a gap along here somewhere.”

  Kai’s feet hurt, but more than that, panic swelled in his chest, threatening to cut off his air and stop his heart. This was taking too long. The unbroken green hedge seemed to go on forever. “This is not right. There’s got to be another way.”

  He turned, but Bree wasn’t there.

  “Hey! Get back here. Bree!”

  Her head popped out from between two tree trunks. “It’s an optical illusion. Try it.” She turned sideways, slipped between two of the trunks and disappeared from sight.

  What Kai had thought was impassable, wasn’t.

  She poked her head back out again. “You coming?”

  Kai approached the hedge side-on. Without too much wiggling, he squirmed his way through the bank of green plants and popped out the other side, sweating. “It worked. Bree, you’re a genius.”

  Her eyebrows wiggled expressively.

  “Let’s go find the stream. We’re so close now.”

  The hike through familiar turf was quick, but when they got to the river, it was dried up. Just a dry, sandy bed remained.

  “No. No. No.” Kai paced with his hands in his hair. He sat down in the dirt where the water should have been. Tears pushed at the backs of his eyes. Not manly tears either. No. These tears threatened an ugly cry. Cut off from his friends, knowing their graves were calling them and there was nothing he could do left him feeling hollowed out and sick. The one thing that gave him a constant sense of hope had dried up.

  Bree sat quietly at his feet, looking up at him silently. After a while he felt silly and dried his wet face on his T-shirt.

  “What would make it better?”

  Kai shrugged. “Only Tau can help us now.”

  “Where did you last see Him? Can we go there?”

  “Resonance Pools. The only way back would be the spirit cuttings, but the web has made it impassable. Without more Healing Stream water, we’ll never get through. There’s no hope.”

  Bree traced a pattern in the sand with her toe. “Not necessarily.”

  “What do you know that I don’t? Start talking.”

  ~*~

  Evazee backed away slowly. Then she turned and ran.

  Shasta called after her, swearing, but he made no effort to chase her. He didn’t need to, not when he could tap into her head whenever he pleased. Evazee rushed along, taking whichever passages were open and deserted. Jesus, help.

  She shivered when she thought of the hold Shasta had over her. Her mind ran like a hamster on a wheel, looking for solutions but finding none. She was trapped underground, lost. Her friends were all split up and out of reach. Think, Evazee, think.

  She heard footsteps and sank into the shadows. A troop of soldiers marched down the passage, each one escorting an imprinted prisoner. Evazee shut her eyes, dropped her chin, and pretended to be invisible.

  Once they’d passed, she slipped further along the passage into the next pool of shadow and slowly worked her way along behind the group, careful not to let any of them catch sight of her. Her heart caught in her throat. Peta was among those at the back of the group. Her legs were so short she ran three steps for eac
h one of the soldier’s. She hung back and peered behind.

  Evazee slipped out from the hiding and joined the other implants.

  Peta grinned at her, not looking surprised at all. She pulled her down to earshot. “They’re splitting us up for deployment, whatever that is. Where have you been? You nearly missed it.”

  “It’s OK, I’m here now. Be ready.”

  ~*~

  The patrol vehicle bumped along, shaking Kai and Bree as they hid in the back. Over all the years she’d lived in the slums, Bree had watched the vehicles doing routine patrols. It had been a simple matter of good timing to jump on the back and catch a lift.

  Bree squinted through the darkness. “The pools are close. Get ready to jump...and...now!”

  They hit the ground and rolled, knocking the wind out of Kai’s lungs. He watched the stars dance.

  Bree leaned over him. “Excuse me. When you’re done, we should get moving.”

  Heat crept into his cheeks. That’s right. He didn’t need lungs to breathe in the Spiritual Realm. He pushed himself to his knees and got onto his feet, feeling old and broken.

  Bree bounced on her toes, impatient. “This way.”

  The pools were as breathtaking as Kai remembered, though dotted in between the colours were a few that had lost their glow. Instead, they seemed to draw the light into themselves and swallow it. He didn’t recall seeing any of those the first time he’d been there.

  Tau, where are you?

  ~*~

  Evazee and Peta followed the group out into the largest vaulted cave that she’d been into yet. The floor of the cave was carved out into a type of amphitheatre, with rows of seats graduating upwards. Sections were marked out on the floor of the cave, and the guards who’d brought them from their holding cells seated them in an area marked with blue chalk crosses on the floor. The seats filled up as more groups were led in from different sides.

  Zulu’s people filled a section, their dark skin glowing purple with war paint. Next to them, a large contingent from the glowing city of stone, Rei Lex, filed in and sat down. All of them wore cream jumpsuits. Slum dwellers filled a section of their own.

  Surrounding the entire gathering, darKounds paced. They circled along the outer edge of the chamber.

  She looked away quickly before fear got the better of her. Her eyes caught two familiar faces—Zap and Ruaan. They were both part of a group seated in the middle circle, front row to the circular stage that had been constructed. Evazee edged forward on her ledge, fingernails digging into her palms. She wished she could get their attention, slip down next to them and find out...

  Find out what? If they’d been seduced the way she had? Shame flooded through her and all desire to speak to them left.

  Peta slipped a hand into hers, and she cuddled up, resting against her arm with a happy sigh.

  Evazee clung to the small girl’s hand. This was real.

  A deep drumbeat shuddered through the rock below them.

  ~*~

  Kai couldn’t see the pool where he’d encountered Tau before. No matter how hard he looked, that particular shade and shape eluded him. In desperation, he dropped to his knees at the pool closest to him. The water that lapped the sandy edges was a strange shade of maroon. Kai forced his breathing to slow and gazed deeply into the water.

  Images rushed into his mind in succession. Zap’s gravestone, the final number being carved. Bree’s grave, a few shovels of dirt away from being filled up, her father’s gravestone mere hours ahead of reality.

  Kai stood up, shaking. This was not working.

  Bree sat on a rock with her feet in a pool, staring at him through thoughtful eyes.

  Kai rushed to the next pool. An army swirled at him out of the depths of the water, from every section. Too many to count, every single one glowing green. Damaged and ready to spread the deception.

  He tore himself away. His blood flowed hot and fast. He had to do something. Panic was rising.

  “Kai, you might want to see this.”

  “Not now, Bree. There’s no time.”

  “Trust me. Come here.”

  “Fine. What?” In a few steps, he towered over Bree on her rock perch.

  “Look.” She drew back her sleeve with her good hand. Her damaged hand was turning black.

  Kai blanched. “Let me think this through.” He shut his eyes so that he no longer had to look at the terrible damage his assumption had caused.

  Assumptions. Why would Tau be silent now?

  Maybe he still needed to listen to the last thing Tau had said to him.

  Don’t be a victim.

  His mind turned over what he knew about resonance. The pools were named for a reason. Of all the definitions he’d read, there was one that stuck with him.

  Resonance is the place where the crystal sings back to its maker.

  Up until now he’d been looking into the pools full of fear and mistrust. What if he sang back to His Maker? They may well be stuck here under the influence of dark Affinity serum, but that couldn’t stop him from singing. It couldn’t stop him from wrapping himself in Tau’s love and protection.

  He stood next to a pool, opened his mouth, and a single note rang out, clear and strong. He let his heart fill up with all the good he’d experienced from Tau, letting go of fear. Letting go of doubt. After all, it wasn’t about him or his feelings. It was about the goodness of Tau.

  The song built and grew, words tumbling around notes, a living revelation of being loved and loving in return. The waters in the pool at his feet churned.

  Take it, Kai. Take it with you.

  His insides blazed with the fiery love of Tau. Shaking from head to foot, he turned his back on the pool, flung his arms out wide and pictured Bree wrapped in Tau’s overwhelming love. Words bubbled up from his belly, and he set them free on the wings of his voice.

  ~*~

  A man slipped in and sat down next to Evazee. His face was hidden, and she pulled away. A second drumbeat shook the cave, and she felt the familiar slide. She was losing herself again. Her heart pinched and adrenalin trickled through her like needles under her skin.

  “Here, put these in.” The stranger handed her two chewed-up wads, and she shoved them deep in her ears. He drew back his hood just enough that she could see his face. Elden.

  A low, rumbling chant built around the room. As far as Evazee could see, everybody sang and swayed. A section of the roof detached and dropped in time to the slow chanting. Upon the descending platform, Shasta waited. The moment it touched down, he flung his arms wide, commanding the attention of the room, turning in a slow circle.

  Only three of those sitting around the inner circle stood. Shasta held up his hand with the writhing snakes and the crowd went wild. He approached the first one standing next to Zap and Ruaan. Without any ceremony, he placed his hand on the boy’s forehead. Suddenly, the boy jerked and screamed before collapsing in a heap.

  With a satisfied smile, Shasta turned and addressed the crowd. “Those who will not be converted, must be coerced. And if they resist?” He waved toward the boy’s lifeless body on the floor.

  Then he turned to Ruaan.

  ~*~

  Kai walked.

  As he walked, he sang.

  Bree walked behind him, sticking as close as she could without stepping on his heels. The waters of the pools followed him, drawn from their boundaries by his song, by the Life of Tau inside him. LifeLight quickened in his belly, and its brightness trailed across his skin and blazed from him as he moved, flooding through the water until it glowed like the Healing Stream.

  I am in you and you are in Me.

  The door to Brio Talee shattered as he drew close. Thick web blocked the opening. Kai laughed. He swept an arm toward the opening and a flood of water smashed into the web with a hiss. Screams of torment filled the air as the two elements clashed violently. A thunderclap, then silence. The water flowed into the spirit cuttings, consuming the dark web.

  Urgency spiked through Kai an
d he ran, drawing the waters with him.

  This could all be too late.

  35

  Evazee gripped Elden’s arm. “We have to stop him.”

  Shasta pulled Ruaan up onto the platform. His spine stiffened, but he put up no fight. His cheek bore a deep purple bruise, swollen enough to close one eye. A taste of the cost of resistance. Shasta paced around him, sizing him up, sparks zig-zagging across his palms. He addressed the crowd.

  The platform must have had some sort of built-in amplification, as he didn’t need to raise his voice. But each word he spoke was clear and loud. “This one will not convert. Shall we see if he’s ready to be coerced?”

  The crowd erupted in a cheer. Evazee thought she might faint.

  The sound of an animal in pain echoed through the chamber. Silence fell across the gathering and people peered around, looking for the source of the sound. What fresh horror was about to be unleashed?

  Ruaan slipped his hands around his midsection and the animal cried out again. The crowd flinched, waiting for a dreadful beast to be revealed.

  Peta pulled Evazee close enough to whisper in her ear, pointing at Ruaan. “They really should feed him.”

  ~*~

  Kai ran to the suspended ball. He took a deep breath and brought his arms up high, a conductor of an orchestra preparing for an opening note. The waters rushed toward him, absorbing his LifeLight, swirling around him. He waited.

  More water.

  He stood in the centre of a growing tower, the walls fashioned by water. As it reached its peak, Kai flung his arms wide, and the water dispersed down every bridge but one. The flow overpowered the black web and washed through the spirit cuttings. Each doorway it reached flew open, powerless before Tau’s life carried within the water. Ordinary water, nothing special or precious, just filled with Tau. The waters flowed out of the doorways, multiplying and growing as they flowed, washing clean. Fixing what was broken. Restoring.

  It was time.

  Instinctively, Kai aimed toward the only bridge that remained dry, the one bridge that still felt wrong. He followed it and crossed through the doorway to the outskirts of the graveyard, the one that held the graves of his friends.