That said, Reverb was in terrible shape, to put it mildly. He had no arms or legs, and his torso was bruised and bloody. One eye was black and swollen shut, and one ear gave the impression of having been shorn off. The only thing on him that didn’t look battered was the metal mask, which was still in place. Bearing in mind the extent of his injuries, I wasn’t shocked by the fact that Reverb didn’t appear to be conscious — he barely appeared to be alive — and was being held aloft by Cerek, who didn’t look that great himself. Whereas before the laamuffal had seemed scraggly and scruffy, he now appeared completely frazzled.
I took all of this in within seconds. Not wanting to telegraph the presence of the new arrivals, I planted my eyes firmly on Static, but I could have saved myself the trouble. He was so intent on choking me out that he didn’t even notice what was going on around him.
As before, Cerek seemed to be trying to tell me something. Sparing him a quick glance, I noticed him gesturing and then caught on. Assuming I understood him correctly, there was a slim chance of overcoming Static. It would be unbelievably risky and exceedingly dangerous — I couldn’t bank on surviving — but it might buy time for Rune and the others.
I concentrated, and then teleported the metal mask off Reverb, sending it to a far corner of the room. Without the mask to support it, Reverb’s mouth fell open, and an impossibly excruciating, agonizing sound issued forth.
Chapter 57
Bellowing in pain, Static released me and collapsed to his knees, at the same time putting his hands up to cover his ears. I hit the floor and flopped onto my rear — not so much because Static had dropped me but because the entire room was shaking as a result of Reverb’s voice. I floated up into the air, thereby managing to escape the tremors that were rattling everything in sight.
For a brief moment, I wondered how badly I was injured. (Again, just because my pain receptors were shut off didn’t mean I wasn’t getting hurt.) Simply eyeballing myself externally, it didn’t seem like anything was out of joint. What’s more, I was surprised to discover that I was still holding Static’s relic — the one that had summoned the doubles of the Incarnates.
All of a sudden, the room stopped shaking. At the same time, I began to hear a queer sound, like someone sucking in air through a straw. I looked in the direction of the noise and realized it was Reverb drawing in breath. He was going to speak again.
Apparently Static realized the same thing, because he staggered to his feet unexpectedly and began mumbling, “No, no, no!”
Reverb’s voice sounded again and Static went down to his knees for a second time, letting out an agonized howl as the room seemed to convulse. Taking advantage of the short reprieve, I looked toward Endow and the others but couldn’t get a sense of how things were going due to the way the room was shaking (although they all still appeared to be on their feet). Regardless, we needed to bring the current conflict to a halt. I turned my attention back to Static’s relic, hoping for a clue, but nothing revealed itself.
Moments later, the shaking stopped, only to be replaced by the air-through-a-straw sound again. Static, however, seeing his own window of opportunity, waved a hand in the general direction of Reverb and Cerek (who was still holding up the wounded Chomarsus), at which point two things happened. First, Reverb’s mask suddenly appeared back in place, obstructing his inhalation of air. The second thing that happened was that both Reverb and Cerek went flying to the side, as if struck by a giant, invisible hand, eventually crashing into — and smashing through — one of the walls with bone-jarring force.
Breathing heavily, Static turned in my direction. Like Ursula previously, he had blood running from his ears, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“You,” he sneered, scowling at me. “You did this.”
I didn’t need any guesses to figure out that he was referring to Reverb’s recent assault on him. Rather than respond, however, I teleported — popping up back in the living room of my quarters. It was an effort to buy time and perhaps figure something out.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be an exercise in futility, as I had been there barely a second before Static appeared as well. He popped up right next to me, and before I could react, he had his hand around my throat again. I beat at it ineffectually — even tried stabbing it with his relic — but my struggles barely registered with him.
Instinctively, I tried teleporting again — this time popping up in the room with the frescos. As before, however, Static came with me. It was as if direct contact made him a part of me, such that he went wherever I did. (And if he noticed the change in our environs, he didn’t show it).
“How are you alive?” he demanded, leaning in close. “Reverb’s voice should have killed you.” His eyes narrowed, and then seemed to light up a moment later. “Of course — you have something.”
I didn’t say anything, just continued striving in vain to get away. Static, ignoring my efforts, raised his free hand, which began glowing with an amber light. At the same time, I felt something getting warm near my leg, as well as my chest.
“Ah,” Static muttered after a few seconds.
I felt the equivalent of a forceful tug near the pocket of my pants, accompanied by the distinct sound of fabric being ripped. A moment later, the souvenir Endow had given me — the prism-shaped relic that would offer protection against Reverb’s voice — flew into Static’s hand.
He stared at it for a moment, then said, “Impressive. Powerful. This one will make a fine addition to my collection. Which reminds me…”
Trailing off, he turned his eyes to my hand — the one that still held his relic — and the crystal was abruptly snatched from me by an unseen force. It went floating to his hand, joining the one he’d taken from my pocket. He then held the two items to his chest — specifically, he pressed them against the amulet he wore. Surprisingly, when he pulled his hand away, they stayed fixed to the talisman as if attached to it with superglue.
Noting my attention, he grinned.
“My growing collection,” he explained, gesturing toward the relics and amulets. “Many thanks for your contribution. And don’t worry — I’ll take excellent care of it. It’s in good hands.”
I frowned as Static finished speaking. There was something about his words… Something about what he’d just said resonated with me, echoed in my head. It triggered a cavalcade of thoughts, memories… But they were jumbled, like pieces of a puzzle. I knew they fit together, but wasn’t sure how. Even worse, considering my current situation, I didn’t have much time to figure it out.
“What’s this?” Static asked quizzically, bringing me back to myself. I noticed then that his hand was once more encased in the amber light, and my chest was getting warm again.
“You’ve got something else,” he continued.
And with that, it came to me — all the pieces of the puzzle slid into place.
I reached for the badge that Rune had previously given me, which was the source of the heat I was feeling. Static, however, got to it first, pulling it from the interior of my shirt.
“Don’t touch that!” I screeched, giving him an angry look. “It’s mine!”
As if to emphasize my claim, I reached toward my neck and grabbed a portion of the badge’s chain.
“Let go!” I roared. “It’s mine! Mine, mine, mine!”
“No, it’s mine,” Static said calmly.
He then yanked on the badge, hard, snapping the chain that attached it around my neck. As he pulled it away, the portion of its chain that I held in my hand slithered through my palm like a wriggling eel.
“No!” I wailed.
Static gave me a smug look. “Very generous of you to add more to my collection before you die.” He then began to squeeze my throat. “It’s too bad you won’t be around to see all the things I’m going to do, but I thank you.”
“No,” I croaked, smiling. “Thank…you.”
Realizing all of a sudden that something was amiss, Static stopped attempting to throttle me. He simply
looked at me for a moment, then stared at the badge with a frightening intensity. A moment later, his mouth fell open in horror, and he dropped both me and the badge.
“It can’t be…” he mumbled, slowly shuffling backward, but never taking his eyes off the badge. “It can’t.”
“But it is,” I assured him.
“No,” he uttered, but without any confidence. At the same time, the badge began emanating a lavender light that appeared to pulse softly.
Seeing this, Static looked at me and pleaded, “Please. Take it back. You have to take it back.”
“It’s too late,” I said as the light from the badge began to pulse faster. “It’s done.”
“No, wait!” Static begged as the pulsing light increased in tempo. “I’ll do anything! Anything! I’ll–”
His words were cut off as the light stopped pulsing and became steady — and then flared up with a brilliance and luminosity that was too intense to look at and which seemingly encompassed the entire room.
Chapter 58
When the light receded, Static lay on the floor, curled up in a ball. He wasn’t unconscious, but he was obviously addled, because he kept mumbling — making what appeared to be random, disjointed statements. Occasionally there would be an outburst from him, prompting me to do what I could to calm him down (which included skimming the surface of his mind to see what the problem was).
To be honest, I sensed that he was no longer a danger, but decided to get anything he might find useful out of his reach. With that in mind, I teleported my badge, his amulet, and the two relics into my hand for the nonce. Beyond that, I simply waited for someone to come take charge of him. (I suppose I could have teleported him, but didn’t want to deal with the aftermath if a sudden change in scenery did something to his already-altered mental state).
Eventually, Mariner showed up. After seeing him looking like a winged bird earlier, I would have expected him to have his arm in a sling, but he appeared to be completely able-bodied. (Obviously, I kept forgetting how tough Incarnates were, such as when he had taken a knife in the eye.)
I left Static in his care, along with the crystal relic and amulet. Keeping my badge and the prism with me, I then teleported back to my quarters, at which point I immediately flung myself into the shower. After the lavender light had vanished, I’d found myself no longer covered in the red dust Static had dumped on me, but I’d still felt foul. A long shower went a long way toward making me feel clean. Afterward, I got dressed and then stretched out on the bed and got some much-needed sleep.
*****
I awoke feeling incredibly refreshed. Bearing in mind that physical needs were at a minimum in Permovren, it was pretty clear that the rest I’d gotten had benefited me mostly on a psychological level. (Apparently rooting a killer out of your midst does wonders for your mental health, including allowing you to sleep like a baby.)
Nevertheless, although the murderer had been caught and the threat eliminated, I still had some lingering questions. That being the case, I decided to finish up my research in the castle library.
Once there (and with the librarian’s assistance once again), I was easily able to pick up where I’d previously left off. From that point, it didn’t take me long to find the information I was looking for. However, I’d barely finished (and had almost no time to reflect on what I’d learned) when Rune and Endow showed up looking for me, saying that we needed to talk.
Chapter 59
We ended up in a sitting room in Endow’s chambers, probably because it seemed to be an area designed for three-person conversations, with a trio of exquisitely comfortable easy chairs arranged around a triangular table.
“So,” I began after everyone had taken a seat, “is this the official debrief?”
“Not exactly,” Rune said. “There are still a lot of unanswered questions about what happened here. At the moment, each of us three probably has a piece of the puzzle, but if we put them together we can probably see the big picture.”
“Okay,” I droned. “But what pieces are we talking about?”
“To begin with,” Endow noted, “there’s the information that you’ve gleaned from investigating the murders. Then there’s what I’ve gathered from talking to Ursula, and what Rune has been able to get from Reverb.”
“Ursula and Reverb?” I repeated quizzically. “What’s their connection? Aside from being mind-controlled and almost killed, that is.”
“I don’t think Static realized Ursula has a telepathic ability,” Endow said. “So, when he took control of her body, even though she couldn’t do anything physically, she was able to see what was in his mind.”
My brow furrowed as I contemplated that. “So she saw everything that happened when she attacked me?”
Endow nodded. “She saw it. She just couldn’t do anything about it.”
“But the real takeaway there,” Rune insisted, “is that she was able to get some things out of Static’s head without him knowing she was there.”
“And Reverb?” I asked.
“He spent fair amount of time with Cerek,” Rune stated, “who had a treasure trove of background information.”
“Yeah, but how’s Reverb even alive?” I asked. “I thought his effigy crumbled.”
Endow sighed. “It’s complicated. But maybe we should just start at the beginning.”
“First though,” Rune chimed in, “let me say that you did great, Jim. It’s not everyone who would have been willing to take on an Incarnate, let alone beat him one-on-one.”
“Except Static’s not an Incarnate,” I countered. “He never was.”
Rune and Endow exchanged a glance, and then the latter asked, “When did you figure that out?”
“Not soon enough,” I replied, “although I got enough hints.”
Endow gave me an inquisitive look. “Like what?”
“For starters, all of the contrasts between him and the rest of you Incarnates,” I stated. “For instance, I could always read him emotionally, but not the rest of you. When I was invisible, he didn’t seem to be able to see me, but the other Incarnates could. And then, there was the fact that he mentioned being roused.”
Endow frowned. “What’s the significance of that?”
“Because for normal people, sleep is generally a necessity,” I explained. “Even in a place like Permovren, where your body doesn’t require it. We need the break, the ability to recharge our mental batteries.” I paused for a moment to let that sink in, then asked, “Didn’t you guys notice that he slept more than the average Chomarsus?”
“He did have a history of sleeping relatively often,” Endow admitted.
“I just thought it was related to the fact that he was incredibly lazy,” Rune added.
“Anyway,” I said sheepishly, “I’m sorry I didn’t pick up on those things sooner. Looking back on it, even his name was a giveaway: aside from referring to a type of electrical charge, ‘static’ also refers to something that’s fixed or doesn’t change.”
“Gamma gave him that moniker,” Endow noted. “In her own way, I guess she was telling us that he hadn’t become an Incarnate.”
I groaned in frustration. “I can’t believe I was so slow in putting all that together.”
“Don’t blame yourself for that,” Rune insisted. “We spent ages around him and never picked up on it. The fact that you homed in on it during a much shorter period is a credit to you.”
“Well, he didn’t pull this farce off on his own,” I said. “He had a real Incarnate helping him most of the time.”
“Gamma,” Endow uttered. “It all started with her. We should have realized what she was capable of.”
“Don’t be angry with her,” Rune said to Endow. “She just couldn’t watch any more of her children die.” He then turned to me, saying, “If you know that Static wasn’t really an Incarnate, then you probably know what Gamma did.”
I nodded. “Cerek told me — she shared her sivrrut with her son.”
Endow looked
at me in surprise. “You spoke to Cerek?”
“Sort of,” I replied, making a waffling motion with my hand. I then proceeded to tell them about my two initial interactions with Gamma’s laamuffal. They listened dutifully and without comment, although I did notice them share a look when I mentioned going into the fresco.
“So he left you clues on a bathroom mirror,” Rune summed up when I finished. “How very noir of him.”
“Well, you did lay this out as a murder mystery,” I reminded him. “Sometimes life really does imitate art.”
“So it seems,” Rune stated. “Anyway, you’re saying the two clues that Cerek gave you told you that Gamma was sharing her power with her son?”
“They told me that, as well as a few other things,” I clarified.
Rune looked as though he had further commentary, but Endow cut him off.
“But I don’t understand,” she interjected. “Why wouldn’t Cerek just come to one of us Incarnates? We’d have actually been able to talk to him in his astral form and would have been able to stop all this carnage.”
“I think he was acting out of loyalty to Gamma,” I said. “He was still trying to save her son.”
“How?” Endow asked.
“Hold on,” Rune chimed in. “We’re hopscotching around a bit. It might be better if we try to take this in order.”
“Fine with me,” I declared. “We were talking about Gamma sharing power with her son.”
“Yes,” Endow said. “She’d already outlived a number of her children. Static was her youngest, and she couldn’t bear the notion of seeing him grow old and die.”
“So she cooked up a scheme where she shared her power with him — put half of it at his disposal — but told all of us that he was an Incarnate,” Rune added.
“But couldn’t you guys sense that her power had diminished?” I asked. “Couldn’t you tell it had been chopped in half?”
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