BELYNN’S HEAD hurt, like her brain had been beaten with a sack of rocks. She blinked, then opened her eyes wide.
She was in a dark room, lying on something hard. There was a little light, a golden glow coming from under a door. The room had no windows that she could see.
She tried to get up, but her arms and legs were tied down to the bed. Angry, she pulled at the bindings, but all she got was another blast of pain in her mind.
She reached for the world mind, for her mother, for Kiryn. Nothing. Worse than nothing. It was like she’d hit a stone wall. “Mother Ana,” she swore, lying back on the soft surface.
She took a deep breath, trying to clear her head.
They had dosed her with something. Something that blocked her abilities far more effectively than alcohol ever had. At least when she was drunk, she could still reach Kiryn.
She wondered if her flask was still in her pocket. A drink would be comforting right now. She knew it would only make her situation worse. But it didn’t stop her from wanting one.
She closed her eyes and lay still for a moment, trying to glean whatever information she could from her six senses.
The air in the room was warm, stuffy, stale, and dank. This room wasn’t used often or was kept closed up most of the time. Probably one of the safe rooms built after the first Great Storm had swept through the world during Davian the Betrayer’s time.
There was noise outside the door. It was faint, but once the light dimmed for a moment. There were muffled voices outside.
There was probably a guard, then. At least one.
She didn’t suppose taste would get her far in the current instance, and her sixth sense was pretty much drugged out of existence.
What did they want her for? And Kiryn?
You are the gateway. What had Nastra meant?
The gateway to where? To what? Old Earth? Obviously the intifada had already found a way to get here from there, strange as that seemed. So what could she do that they needed?
She wished she could reach Andy.
Help was on the way, though. It had to be. Her mom and the world mind, not to mention her mamma, would be worried about her after she had abruptly dropped out of contact.
Gordy and Dax would know where to find them, unless they’d been captured too.
What if we’re not at the church? That thought worried her the most.
Gordy knew where the headquarters of the intifada was, and if he knew it, they knew he knew it. What if she were somewhere else entirely? How would anyone find her?
She shuddered. Now she really needed that drink.
Belynn tested her bonds again. She was tied with rope, looped around her wrists and ankles.
Rope was pliable.
She had nothing else to do. Maybe they assumed she’d be knocked out a little longer. If so, she needed to take advantage of that oversight.
She wiggled her left wrist, finding the smallest amount of play in the binding.
It was a start.
KIRYN FLOATED in a strange space between worlds.
Sometimes he could see, through fogged vision, a small, dimly lit room with no windows. He knew that one was real because while he was there he couldn’t hear anything.
It was a small room, maybe once a bedroom, bare of anything but the cot where he was tied down. His sister was nowhere to be seen.
Then just as quickly as it had come, the room would fade and he would be thrust back into the fog.
On the other side lay another world.
He woke there to find himself in a pitched battle. Strange things whizzed around his head, no bigger than his thumb. With a wide paddle, he batted them away, all the while intent on running toward the enemy line.
How he knew they were they enemy, Kiryn wasn’t sure, but every sound was clear as a bell—the grunts as he and his squad fought their way forward. The shouts when one of the little buzzing things connected and someone fell to the gravel ground. The heavy rumble of thunder shook the battlefield as threatening clouds gathered in a sky impossibly high.
“That’s game!” someone shouted. “Reds win!”
Then the fog encircled him once more.
When he awoke again in his own world, he was surrounded by acolytes of the intifada.
Eight of them crowded into the small room, forming a circle around him, arms entwined.
Their lips were moving in synchronized rhythm. They seemed to be chanting—that couldn’t be good.
“What are you doing?”
They ignored him.
Kiryn tested his bonds, but he was held down tightly and could only move his arms and legs a few centimeters. Still, he was strong, and he managed to shift the bed. If he could just bang into one of them, maybe he could disrupt whatever they were doing—
A sharp pain flared in his head. “Holy fuuuuck!” It was like someone had shoved a hot poker into his brain.
It lanced down his neck and spine, and his vision filled with red, then green.
He struggled to free himself, shaking the cot underneath him. “Don’t… please don’t….”
The room faded once more, and he was lost in a world of pain.
DAX REACHED the porch in the darkness, breathing quickly, his nerves threatening to get the best of him. He’d never done anything like this before, playing thief in the night.
Just a couple of other people were out and about in the abandoned district—some college kids who had come here, probably to hook up.
They’d passed by, and then Dax had decided he couldn’t wait any longer for Gordy. Who knew what was happening to Kiryn and Belynn in that house?
One by one, his friends came across the dark space toward him.
The porch was unlit. Probably don’t want to attract unwanted attention. He couldn’t see any light inside, either.
He’d snagged a couple of sprigs of red fern, and he pulled one out now, enough to give himself some light. He turned to his friends. “Ready?”
They nodded. “All this cloak-and-dagger’s kind of exciting!” Pieter grinned, his teeth pink in the red fern’s glow.
Dax frowned at him. “Stick together. Stay in pairs. You all have your rope ready?”
This was strictly a grab-and-bag affair. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt.
They nodded. Denna held up a length of rope and mimed hanging herself, sticking her tongue out dramatically.
Dax sighed. “Let’s go.”
He put his back to the wall and reached out to test the door handle. It was unlocked.
The door swung open a few centimeters, and Dax held his breath. Seconds passed, and nothing happened.
He pushed it open wide and stepped inside quietly, looking around. The entry hall was empty and dark. Denna was right behind him.
Dax stopped, listening for any sounds. The house seemed empty.
“Fucking Forever,” he said under his breath. “Search the house. Quietly. If you find anything, shout out.”
Signaling for Denna to go with him, he climbed the stairs, going as quickly as he dared without making a sound. He winced as one of the steps creaked loudly. He waited for a moment. Still nothing.
He resumed the climb.
At the top of the stairway was a long hall with maybe ten doors. They checked each room.
The doors were unlocked. The rooms were all bedrooms. Each one contained a cot and little else. It was sad, really. Wherever these people were from, they lived such a sparse life here.
He opened the last door, and something leapt at him.
“Fuck Ariadne!”
Denna was laughing softly behind him.
It was a cat. A black cat.
The thing ran along the hall and down the stairs.
His heartbeat slowed. “Damnable cat.”
They went back downstairs to find the others. In five minutes they’d searched the whole premises. The place was abandoned.
Chapter Twelve: Rabbit Hole
BELYNN HAD one arm free and was working on the other whe
n the door opened, splashing golden light into the room from a luthiel lantern in the hallway.
She lay back down, hiding her freed wrist off the side of the cot.
Nastra came to sit next to her on a small stool.
These people had terrible taste in furniture—not a comfortable thing in the whole place. Belynn grinned to herself despite her situation.
The woman touched her cheek with the back of her hand. “Nothing to fear, little one. This will all be over soon, when she comes.”
“Where is Kiryn?” She could grab the woman, strike her or choke her… but first she needed information.
“Your brother is being opened up to the intifada.”
That sounded ominous. “Nastra, let me out of here. You don’t have to do this.”
“Don’t worry,” she cooed. “It doesn’t hurt. Oh, maybe a little.” She closed her eyes for a second, and when she reopened them, she smiled.
Belynn remembered being ripped apart in Gordy’s memory, when he’d ascended. Doesn’t hurt my ass. She could see the mask, the person inhabiting the body that sat before her. The difference in the two faces was jarring. “What happened to her?” The woman whose body you stole.
Nastra looked away, frowning. “We never ask that.”
“Why? Because you feel guilty about what you’ve done? Taking over someone else’s life?”
This time the mask and the face were in perfect sync. Anger. “Yes. Yes we do. It’s—not like any of us wanted this.”
Belynn snorted. “Of course you did. If you didn’t want it, you wouldn’t have done it.”
Nastra took her by the collar. “Listen, girl, you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. None of us wanted to hurt anyone, but we had no choice. It was us or them.” She let go of Belynn’s shirt. “Except for her. Sorry, I shouldn’t have lost my temper.”
Belynn persisted. “Why did you have to do it? I don’t understand.” Her breathing slowed. If she could just keep Nastra talking, maybe she’d find out what this all really meant.
Nastra was silent for a moment, and her reply, when it came, was so soft she almost didn’t hear it. “Our world is dying.”
“Earth?”
This time Nastra laughed. “No. Not Earth. The inthworld. The place we came from.”
Inthworld? “I don’t know what that is—”
The door swung open. “It’s time.”
Belynn glimpsed another face with a mask, and then it was gone.
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to… I wanted you to know. It’s not personal.”
“Nastra, wait!”
The woman paused halfway to the door. She looked very uncomfortable, her shoulders hunched.
“Who was Gordy? Before…?” She shuddered. “Did he suffer?”
She smiled briefly. “No. Not that one. He was already gone. Brain-dead.” Then she fled.
When the door closed once more, Belynn lifted her free hand and frantically worked to untie the rest of the knots.
GORDY STARED at the church in the darkness and cursed under his breath. He was late, and Dax and his friends had already gone inside. He snuck up onto the porch, listening for any sounds from inside the house. It was dead quiet.
He pushed the door open silently and came face-to-face with Dax.
“You made it!” Dax seemed relieved. And frustrated.
“What happened?” He looked around, taking in the faces of Dax’s friends.
“They’re not here. We checked the whole place. Guys, this is Gordy.” Dax introduced him around the circle.
“Damn.” Gordy sank down into an old wooden chair by the door. He closed his eyes and tried to feel the others, like he had in the orchard.
Nothing.
They were running out of time. He was sure of it.
“Can you… tell where they are?”
Gordy opened his eyes to find Dax staring down at him.
“No. Nothing. It’s like they vanished off the face of the… off Forever.” He frowned. “Wait, if I can’t sense them—”
Dax grinned. “They must be underground.”
“In the caverns?” Without Kiryn and his ability, how would they even begin to search?
“No. We saw a few of them come into the house before we did. I thought they’d slipped out the back door.”
“No. They’re still here.”
Dax nodded. “After the Great Storm, many of these homes had safe rooms built beneath them, underground.”
“That’s got to be it.” Gordy grinned. “Now we just have to find them.”
THE DOOR swung open. Belynn crouched behind it, her knife out, ready to leap on whoever came through.
It was Kiryn.
Relief blossomed in her chest. “You’re safe!” She sheathed her knife and leapt into his arms, hugging him tight.
He was stiff, and he stared at her as if he didn’t know her at all.
Confused, she stepped backward and gasped. He had an ethereal green mask over his face. “No!” She pushed her way past him, desperate to get out, to find help, and ran right into Nastra’s arms.
The woman grabbed her by the neck and forced her back into the room, toward the bed. “You’re very clever, getting yourself free. Unfortunately, it won’t do you much good. Crick, tie her down.”
Kiryn pushed her back onto the cot and tied her wrists to the frame again.
“Crick, you don’t have to do this.” She pleaded with him, trying to catch his eye. “Kiryn, please!”
He wouldn’t look at her.
“Nastra, don’t do this! I beg you.”
“She has no choice.” Della entered the room, the first time Belynn had seen her since the seminar. She was dressed in black robes, and her dark eyes bored into Belynn as if they sought to devour her. “The intifada comes. It is the only way we can save ourselves.”
Something clicked. What Della had said. “You’re not from Earth, are you?”
Della laughed. “No, not exactly. At least, not the Earth your grandfather knew. Our world—some call it the inthworld—is a part of your own.” She sat on the bed, pushing back a lock of Belynn’s dark hair from her forehead in a motherly gesture. “Your great-grandfather, Jackson, created us and our little part of the virtual universe. Most of us don’t know anything else. We were born there, we grew up there, and every so often the world ends and we start the process over again.”
“I… I don’t understand.” Though she was starting to. She had to play for time. Someone will come.
“The inthworld is all the virtual worlds from Jackson Hammond’s head. Old Earth, the one he remembered and reimagined for himself inside the world mind.” She took Belynn’s knife from its sheath and handed it to one of the acolytes. “Put this away. She’ll get it back after the ceremony.”
“Why are you telling me all this?”
Della smiled, and this time it seemed almost warm. “I want you to understand. You are a compassionate woman. You see, the inthworld is dying. It has come to the end of its useful life, and soon—a handful of years—it will be no more. We don’t know why, but when it happens, everyone I know will die.”
That sounded horrible.
Belynn had to remind herself that they weren’t real. If what Della told her was true, they were all just simulations in vee, some part of the old world mind that had survived Davian’s death.
And yet…. Gordy seemed as real as she was, and if they weren’t real, what were Andy and Shandra in the newer world mind? “There has to be a better way. Let me talk to my parents. To the world mind. We can find a better way.”
For a moment, Belynn thought she was getting through.
Then Della sighed. “You think your people would willingly give up their lives to save mine?”
“No.” Some might, but her people had their own lives too. But there had to be something.
In the meantime, all she could do was stall and hope Gordy and Dax or her parents came to help her. “How did you find out about….”
“Ab
out here?” She laughed. “It was by accident, really. Your grandfather visited us, searching for Jackson. When he did, Lilith realized what he was.”
Lilith.
She knew that name.
As a child, her grandfather had told her the story of his search for Jackson Hammond through the worlds in vee. Lilith was a biomind, not unlike the world mind, albeit a virtual one.
The distinction made her head spin.
Lilith was also mad.
“She will be here soon. You are to be her vessel, and you and your brother will help her take over your world mind.” She touched Belynn’s cheek gently. “You will be the mother of us all. Through you, Lilith will become the gateway for the other souls in our world to come to yours. She is so much stronger than the rest of us.”
Belynn shuddered. “No, please, give me a chance to figure something else out. We can find another way. I promise!”
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that.” She leaned over and kissed Belynn’s forehead. “You really are beautiful, like your name. You will be remembered.”
She stood and took the hands of the other acolytes. They knelt around her and began to chant.
Pain blossomed in Belynn’s head, her vision went red, and then was filled with green.
“No, please don’t—”
Then she was consumed by pain.
ANDY PACED from one side of the balloon to the other.
The poor balloonist stared at her nervously as the basket rocked slightly back and forth.
Shandra put a hand on her shoulder, gently bringing her to a stop. “You have to calm down. Making yourself crazy won’t do anything to help the situation.”
Andy stared at her as the wind whipped by. She was exhausted. “I know. I know you’re right.” Things had been so much simpler before, when she’d had no children to worry about. Pieces of her heart sent out into the world, exposed to all its glory and danger.
Not that she would trade them for anything.
But it nearly split her in half to think of them coming to harm. “I can’t feel them.”
Since Kiryn and Belynn had left the Estate, she had always been able to reach out and sense that Belynn was okay, and through her, Kiryn. She wasn’t sure that Belynn was even aware of the contact. But it had been her consolation, her way of living with the sudden loss of those two bright sparks in her everyday life.
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