Mara felt a charge run through her body, like static but with a little more sting. Her limbs stiffened and a wave of nausea washed over her as the air around her crackled. Lights flashed and snapped as if wires of opposing polarities had touched. Sparks of blue and red appeared from nowhere, hovered and danced like charged particles, swirling around her, forming a thin translucent film, a force-field-like barrier that enveloped her.
Dizziness forced to her reach out, seeking balance, setting off more flashes, more sparks as her touch ignited the air. The static turned to shocks that sent tremors through her body. A spasm racked her legs, causing her to fall to her knees. More sparks flew from the boundary around her.
“It would be best if you didn’t move too much,” the other Mara said.
“What have you done to me?”
“I know how you’d love to dive into the mechanics of it all, but there’s no time for that now. Let’s just say I’ve altered the signals your artificial body produces so that they conflict with the natural electromagnetism of this realm. As a matter of fact, when they come in contact, they annihilate each other, thus the entertaining light show. I imagine the effect must be uncomfortable.”
Mara raised her hand, palm up and a swirling ball of fire appeared above it.
“You would kill your brother, just to get at me?”
The ball of flame sputtered, disappeared.
“I didn’t think so. Such a martyr.”
Mara staggered to her feet, igniting a shower of sparks in the air. Arcs of electricity danced across her chrome ribs, jumping up to ground themselves in her jaw with a jarring crack. Using her last ounce of energy, she willed her body to lean forward, hoping reflexes would force her legs to operate. She moved, but convulsions from the constant shocks made it impossible to control her course.
In a flash of static, her sight winked out.
Blind. And something’s burning.
“It would be less painful for us all if you’d simply stop flailing around and accept your fate,” her counterpart needled.
Mara lurched toward the sound, holding out her arms, reaching for her brother. She felt her fingers melting.
Got to touch her. Send her back to where she came from.
With a final push, she swung her left leg around, letting her weight propel her forward until she crashed into Sam’s chest. When Mara wrapped her arms around his neck to hold herself up, her counterpart whispered, “It won’t work. You can’t touch me in here.”
Mara pushed away from Sam’s chest, stumbled back a foot and stood there swaying, throwing off sparks she felt but could not see as she stirred the air.
In the darkness ahead, she saw a single point of light.
I’m dying.
She remembered it from the day she got her artificial body, when Dr. Canfield tried to ease her awake, but Mara had panicked and slipped out of her body.
Slipped out of my body.
Mara froze—hope caught in her throat as she willed herself free. She felt buoyant as she stepped forward, into the blinding light. A loud metallic clatter startled her, and she looked down. Through her transparent torso, she caught a glimpse of her artificial legs, now prone on the pavement beneath her.
She looked up.
“What’s happening?” her counterpart demanded, using Sam’s face to gawk at the ghostly figure standing before him.
“You lose. That’s what’s happening.”
Mara plunged her ethereal hand into the chest of her brother and touched the Consciousness of her counterpart. An explosion of blue light engulfed them, and everything went black.
CHAPTER 45
Mara wasn’t sure how long she’d been in the dark before she became aware of it or how long the voice had been calling to her. It seemed to be coming from a distance but getting closer, louder. When it got loud enough, she recognized it as her own.
“Mara? Can you hear me?” she said.
Mara tried to reply, but her throat felt parched. She swallowed a few times, feeling it loosen enough to speak a few words. “I can’t see the point of light.”
“What does that mean?” her own voice asked.
“I need it to activate my body. I focus on the point of light.”
The voice chuckled. “Sorry, but this model doesn’t come with a light. You just need to open your eyes.”
Mara blinked. A moment later the blur that floated above her came into focus. It was her own face, smiling down.
“How do you feel?” her counterpart asked.
Mara looked around and recognized her old bedroom, the one she had before the dragon had burned down the house. Pushing herself against the headboard, she felt stiffness like she’d never felt before and groaned. “I feel like I got hit by a truck,” she said.
The other Mara sat on the corner at the foot of the bed. “Your muscles have never been used before, so it will take a few days to loosen up, but, other than that, I think you should be good to go.”
“Good to go? What are you—” Mara held up her hand and wiggled her fingers stiffly in the air. They were covered in skin. “They are real. I can feel the difference, not just simulated impulses.” She smiled, rotating her head. “And there aren’t any signals.”
“Signals?”
“Cell phones, radios, televisions. I can’t hear them anymore. You actually grew me a new body of flesh and blood. How did you do it so quickly?”
“It’s been nearly a week. I promised four days, if you remember our original deal. It took longer because I had to set up a lab in the basement, and extracting your engrams was trickier than I had anticipated, what with all the electrical surges going on in your artificial systems. Your old body was virtually destroyed.”
Mara frowned. “Destroyed?”
“Do you remember what happened?” her counterpart asked.
“Tran came after us after we escaped the Arboretum,” Mara said, pausing to pull the threads from her memory. “But it wasn’t Tran—it was another Mara.” As the details came back to her, she gasped. “Sam’s Mara.”
“She all but destroyed your artificial body before we got to you. If Sam hadn’t stayed conscious long enough to tell us what had happened, we might never have found you. Any more of a delay and the shocks would have destroyed your engrams, and I would not have been able to grow your new body.”
An image of Mara plunging her hand into her brother’s chest flashed into her mind.
“Sam? Is he all right?” she asked.
“He was hurt in the blast, but Ping healed him before we retrieved you.”
“Retrieved me?”
“You were thrown back into your realm when you came into contact with Sam’s Mara. Remember? Ping showed me how to use the Chronicle of Creation, and we went after you.”
“You came for me?”
“Like you came for me when I was in trouble.” She smiled and resisted the urge to pat Mara’s leg.
“How did I get into this body? I don’t remember the transfer,” Mara asked.
Her counterpart shrugged. “I’m not sure. I assumed your Consciousness tagged along with the engrams. Isn’t that what happened when you moved into your artificial body?”
“I suppose.”
Her counterpart stood and walked to the door. “You feeling up to a couple visitors? Sam and Ping have been hovering and worrying for days. I promised to let them know as soon as you were awake.”
“Absolutely.”
“There’s one thing you should know before they come in.”
“What is it?” Mara asked.
“Ping was able to heal Sam’s injuries from the explosion during your confrontation with his sister, but Ping couldn’t cure Sam’s blindness. He still can’t see when my Sam’s not with him.”
Mara gasped at the thought, and her eyes brimmed with tears. After taking a deep breath, she said, “Okay, tell them I’m awake.
A moment later, Ping walked in with Sam holding his arm for guidance. Her mentor smiled upon making eye contact and s
aid, “It’s absolutely amazing. You look like your old self again. How do you feel?”
“Good, except I need to break in the new body to loosen it up. Maybe later we can go for a walk and get some exercise,” she said.
As they approached the side of the bed, Sam said, “I can take you. You can be my eyes, and I’ll be your crutch, until you get steady on your feet.”
“It’s a deal,” she said, making her voice sound happier than she felt as she watched her brother extend his hands, trying to find the bed so that he didn’t bump into it. When his hand touched the mattress, he turned to the right toward a nearby chair, but Mara said, “Why don’t you sit here on the edge of the bed with me and let Ping have the chair?” She reached up and took his hand.
As he sat, he smiled and said, “Quite a surprise, huh? Mara from my realm showing up like that.”
“How did you figure out it was her?” Mara asked.
“I just recognized her, at first, without realizing it. The way she called me little brother, with that tone of voice. And the way she blew things up, that shredding ribbons thing—it was her hallmark. Sort of like you pixelating stuff. Also the other Sam picked up some memories—images really—while he was bouncing around in her head. It took me a while to realize they were from her, from my old realm,” he said.
“You tried to warn me earlier, but I didn’t listen to you. Maybe if I had, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt,” she said.
“It wasn’t that bad,” he said.
She turned to Ping who had taken the chair. “How bad was he hurt?”
Mara watched him consider how to respond for a split second, then said, “There was significant injury to his chest. Had I not been there to heal him, he would have died.”
Mara gasped and took her brother’s hand. “I’m so sorry. I never considered what would happen when I—”
“There was no time,” Sam said. “Even if there was, it was the only thing that you could have done. Anyway, everything worked out for the best. We’re all alive, and Mara’s back where she belongs.”
“Still, your sister—”
“You are my sister.”
“I know, but—”
“No buts. You and Mom are my family. She is just … the enemy,” he said.
Mara turned to Ping. “We haven’t seen the last of her, have we?”
“If she survived the events on the airplane during your first encounter, there’s no reason to believe she didn’t survive this one. It’s likely she’s out there somewhere, plotting something,” Ping said. “Did she say anything to you that might indicate what?”
“It was hard to follow what she said. So much of it didn’t make sense until I realized who she was. One thing is certain. She’s been around since this whole thing began—since we first met on that flight to San Francisco. She mentioned disguises and proxies, that she was the power behind her mother’s attempted invasion of our realm and her possession of Mom.”
“Did she make any specific threats?”
Mara shrugged. “She said she wanted my life, my world. Everything.”
“Sounds reminiscent of the Aphotis.”
“How so?”
“Remember, before becoming the Aphotis, Prado attempted to possess you but ended up with Abby instead. If Sam’s Mara was the driving force behind the Aphotis, her goals might be the same.”
“To define Reality in some great metaphysical struggle?”
“Nothing could be more metaphysical and more consequential in terms of defining Reality than a conflict between two progenitors.”
“That’s too bad for her,” Mara said.
“Why do you say that?” Sam asked.
“Because, until now, we’ve been fighting blind—and holding our own. Now that we know who and what we’re facing, we’re in a much stronger position. Besides, I’ve got my secret weapons—the two of you.”
“Speaking of fighting blind,” Sam said, “I’m not sure how much help I’ll be.”
Mara glanced at Ping. He shook his head and said, “I’ve tried several times to heal his eyes, but nothing I do works.”
She shifted her gaze back to her brother. “Scoot up here, closer to me,” she said. After he complied, she leaned into him and said, “Close your eyes.”
As she placed her fingers over them, he asked, “What are you doing?”
“Shush. Let me concentrate.”
A muted light emitted from between her fingers, pulsed twice, and then faded away. She leaned back against the headboard of her bed and said, “Open them.”
Sam blinked for a moment, then focused on his sister’s face. He smiled and said, “It’s nice to see you again.”
“It’s nice to be seen.” She reached out and gave him a hug.
From his chair, Ping said, “Amazing! You’ve never demonstrated an ability to heal before.”
Mara released her brother and leaned back again. “It wasn’t healing. His eyes weren’t damaged—that’s why you couldn’t fix him. Mara didn’t injure his eyes. She altered the Reality of them. Remade them so they couldn’t detect light.”
“Even more remarkable,” Ping said.
“How so?” she asked.
“Your grasp of metaphysics has become quite impressive and formidable. We have every reason to be optimistic.”
“Optimistic? About what?” she asked.
“The battle ahead.”
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The Chronicles of Mara Lantern on Amazon:
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Broken Spells (Book 6)
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