She would find a better way to cope with her gifts. If Destiny had taught her anything, it was to treasure what she had. It had been given to her for a purpose.
There was something beautiful about ser, young as se was. Se had a beautiful soul.
They mounted their horses, who had spent the time nibbling most of the grass in the cave.
Aine had something planned for the world mind, though even Destiny didn’t know exactly what.
Belynn looked back at the cavern one more time as they rode out. She wondered what had happened to Cast.
He was so sweet, and he had helped her without hesitation when she’d needed him. She hoped he had a good life and found a guy who would make him happy.
That thought brought a smile to her face.
ANDY OPENED her eyes.
She was lying on her back in Shandra’s arms, staring up at the world mind. “What happened?”
Shandra’s eyes narrowed, the fine lines on the sides of her eyes crinkling. “How did we meet?”
Andy laughed. “On a traxx when you took me to find Agartha. That’s a stupid question.”
“Call me stupid all you want. You’re back!” She grinned and pulled Andy close. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”
“I’ll try not to. I’m truly sorry,” Andy said dryly. “I have a headache that feels like it could split my head open.”
“Is Lilith gone, then? For good?”
“I don’t know. It was like she just evaporated. Something happened in the inthworld, I think. Aine?”
The air shimmered, and the world mind’s avatar appeared. “I’m occupied on a number of fronts at the moment.”
Andy nodded. “I’d imagine. Are the kids okay?”
“I think so. Something is going on inside the inthworld, but I can’t get any details yet.”
“They’ll be okay. We taught them well.” Shandra leaned down and kissed Andy’s forehead.
“How’s Colin?”
“We need to get him back to Darlith. But I think he’ll be okay. He lost some blood, but his injuries don’t seem life-threatening. I’ve done the best I can.”
Andy squeezed her hand. “Good thing I know how to fly a balloon.”
She let Shandra help her out of the cavern of the world mind. As they reached the open air, she took in a deep breath.
Morning light burst into being before her, the spindle flaring like a candle wick set aflame.
This was her world as much as it was anyone’s, inherited from her grandfather, who had given his life for it.
“It’s beautiful from up here.” Shandra stared out at the world laid out in a 360-degree view around them.
“Do you ever wonder if it’s time to move on? To let the younger crowd take over?”
Colin laughed. “I don’t think we’re ready.”
Shandra squeezed her arm. “Not yet. We still have things to do.”
Andy nodded. “I suppose you’re right. Now that the ints are vanquished….”
She trailed off, watching as the morning light sped away from them. There were still things she wanted to do. A legacy to leave behind.
They’d been through so much with Davian and then Lilith. The ghosts of Old Earth cast a long shadow.
She needed to find a way to break the cycle.
AINE WAITED until her children were clear. Then she spun a cocoon for the revitalized inthworld mind, wrapping it in layers of protective stone and giving it its own piece of her last asteroid acquisition. Are you sure this is the right thing to do?
Jackson replied to her through their bond. Your world has its own path. So does ours. You helped me heal it, and we will be forever grateful.
We?
The Immortals. This is our world now.
Yes, it is. He had shown her his new world, and it was full of promise. It was no less real for how it had been created.
She finished the cocoon, slicing off the inthworld in its own little sphere, attached to its asteroid carrier. Any last thoughts before we part ways?
Just keep an eye on Destiny for me. Ser name is well deserved.
Aine laughed. I think you’re right. Good night, Jackson.
Good night, little one.
She closed off the last connection and set the inthworld adrift into the void.
She watched it float off, wondering how it would evolve and what it might become on its own.
Then she turned her gaze back to Forever.
She had her own world to take care of.
CAST SAT on his bed in his apartment, staring out at Fargo, its superscrapers glistening in the light of a spectacular sunrise.
He’d had the most amazing dream. An angel had come down from heaven and had changed his life. The details of it were already fading, but he felt really good. Better than he could remember feeling in a long time.
The sun was just rising over the horizon. The day was new, and it was full of possibility, as if the rest of his life was suddenly stretched out before him like a map to the infinite.
He put down his sketch pad, satisfied that he had captured her essence. She was sweet, beautiful, and just a little sad.
Belynn. The name suited her.
He would make her into art for his walls so he could look at her and remind himself of this feeling.
Then he got out of bed to shower and get dressed. As he turned on his ionic shower and stepped inside, a strange thrill ran up his spine.
It was a new day, and the world was waiting for him.
Part Three: Thief—2229 AD
Chapter One: Thierry
DELLA DEVERAUX looked around the shabby office space she’d been assigned as the new mayor of Darlith. “This won’t do.”
Arnold looked back and forth from the room to her, sweat beading on his brow. “Yes, ma’am. I can have it cleaned up—”
“No. I want something better.” The previous occupant, Morris Bunch, had been a competent city manager, nothing more. After his untimely death, Della had seen an opportunity to step in and remake this little corner of the world into something more ruthlessly efficient. “I want something with a view of the river and the mountains. Something more… appropriate to the status of the head of the biggest city in the world.”
Arnold went white. “I’ll see what I can find.”
She put out a hand, caressing his prematurely balding pate. “Knock out a wall or two, if you must.”
He nodded. “As you wish.” Arnold ducked out of the room, and Della strode to the small window that looked out over Founder’s Plaza.
Earth Square, many called it, in honor of the sculpture in the grassy heart of the open space. The one Andy had created, before Della had been born.
She frowned. There is no Earth. Earth was a lie told to her by the inthworld invaders. One they had whispered to her at night like a drug. One she had believed in for far too long.
Two decades later and I’m still seduced by those beautiful thoughts. And still burned by what had happened after.
There was only Forever. Only the here and now.
It was time for things to change. They’d lived under the thumb of the world mind, the government, and the city council for far too long.
On the desk, a few of her “Faith, Freedom, Forever” posters fluttered in the breeze from the open window. Her campaign slogan had served her well, easily overcoming her opposition.
Now she would bring those responsible for her fall to their knees.
She pulled her long silver hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. Changes were coming. Changes to life in Darlith and to the rest of the world.
She would cleanse the world of lies, and that old sculpture would be the first to go.
ANDY SAT back in her seat at the River Bend Café, reenacting a scene from her youth, when she’d spent a few weeks in Darlith growing the big sculpture that filled the heart of the square.
The city was spread out before her, a bustling metropolis that had been little more than a one-street town the first
time she’d passed through it on horseback to find Colin McAvery. So much time had passed since then, and so many people too—Colin and Trip, her mother and father, her uncle Jayson—and yet the world continued blithely along.
To the south, the Anatov Mountains poked their heads above the city skyline, curving up around the edges of the world like the dragon’s teeth they resembled.
The little embrew café was bustling, but there was a worried undercurrent to the conversation, the minor chord in the song that made you wonder what might be coming next.
Della Deveraux’s F3 Party fliers—Faith, Freedom, Forever—were plastered everywhere, printed on posters of cotton paper from the local farms. Paper production was a big industry in Darlith, and printed books were starting to come back into vogue with the readvent of printing presses.
Not that most of these people knew that printing presses had existed once before. A problem she hoped to correct.
The election the week before had brought a sweeping change in Darlith’s normally sedate politics, and no one quite knew where it would lead.
Time enough to worry about such things later. Andy set down her cup, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath of the morning air. Above, clouds threaded around the spindle, casting a patchwork of light and shadow across the plaza. Kids played on the Old Earth sculpture. As she watched, one of them tumbled off South Africa and into the glowing grass. The little girl got up and shook her head, her brown ponytails flying through the air.
Oh, to be young again. Andy enjoyed watching the kids playing on her creation, even if they were clueless about what it represented. At seventy-nine, she was no longer spry enough to go climbing, much less to fall on her ass.
She chuckled at the image of herself laid out on the grass, her beautiful hand-dyed turquoise skirt fluttering in the wind.
This was a pivotal moment in Forever’s development. Those like her who remembered Old Earth were dying off, and with the inthworld excised and sent on its way, soon only Aine would recall how things had once been.
It was time to move forward, and yet there were parts of the old world that needed to be remembered.
We are our history.
There was an old saying she quite liked. “Those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.” They were rapidly forgetting their own, and she feared where it would lead.
The waiter stopped by to refill her cup, and she nodded at him gratefully. She took another sip, letting it warm her stomach, and watched the square.
This was her third day here, waiting for the boy. She’d heard about him through the Liminal grapevine—a fifteen-year-old thief with an ability unlike any other she had seen. He was perfect for her new school, if she could just find him. And catch him.
After learning that Belynn, her own daughter, had felt constrained to hide her own ability, she’d sworn to make sure that would never happen again.
A man on the street in front of her yelped, rubbing his backside and looking around suspiciously.
Andy grinned. Gotcha. She hurriedly paid her bill, leaving two copper star pennies. The world was growing too large for barter, and Aine had withdrawn from it to allow it to evolve in its own fashion, so coins and accountants were back in style. Everything came back around, given enough time.
She stood and picked up her staff, made of beautifully polished dark red world wood, and limped off. She leaned heavily on the stick, making her way toward the man who had flagged down one of the city sheriffs.
Andy took up a position nearby, pretending to look around to figure out where she was.
“Took it right off of me. I didn’t even see the little bugger.”
The sheriff shook her head. “Not much we can do if you can’t give me a physical description.”
A woman nearby was looking around as if someone had just goosed her in the ass.
Andy wandered in that direction and then took a position looking up at the Earth sculpture, acting the oblivious tourist.
It didn’t take long.
There was a slight tug on her coin purse, and then something sliced it off cleanly.
She turned, and she could see his outline. Like a ghost of a boy.
Andy reached out and caught the ruffian by his nearly invisible ear.
Ignoring his cries, which were drowned out by the noise of the square, she dragged him across the cobblestones to the alley next to the All Faiths Church, hidden from the view of casual passersby. Squeezing his ear, she whispered, “Show yourself, you little menace.”
THIERRY SAT on the steps of the All Faiths Church, staring out across the square. It was Market Day, and Earth Square was bustling with people going to and from the Market two blocks away. He picked his teeth. Two of the back ones had fallen out, but he didn’t figure he needed them anyway.
The square was a riot of colors, many wearing this year’s fashion—black laced-up vests decorated with swirling patterns and long-sleeved shirts in bright blues and purples and golds.
The mood, though, was more somber.
Everyone ignored him, brushing past him as if he wasn’t there.
He picked out his first mark, a man with a peacock swirl of color across the back of his vest and a pair of dyed red leather boots. The material was of a fine cut and the leather new and shiny.
The bulging purse at his waist would have its share of silver moons. Roland would be pleased with him. It might be enough to ensure an extra serving of soup for dinner.
Thierry licked his lips in anticipation and followed the man across the square. He rubbed his sore cheek where Roland had hit him the day before for failing to bring home enough loot.
One of these days, he’d find a way to go out on his own. He pulled out his knife and whistled loudly.
The man stopped, and Thierry stepped up and cut loose his coin purse.
Then he stepped back to enjoy the reaction to his handiwork. That was always the best part.
The man frowned, looked down, and saw the loose strings at his waist blowing in the breeze. Then he howled.
Thierry grinned and slipped away, goosing a fat woman’s bottom on the way, just for fun.
She stared indignantly at a man behind her. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Thierry checked his new purse. It was full… of copper stars. “Spin me down,” he said under his breath and looked around for another mark.
An old woman with a cane was making her way across the square with a determined look. He almost felt sorry for her. She looked pained as she took slow steps over the uneven cobblestones, intent on a destination only she knew.
She stopped to look up at the sculpture, her eyes wide.
A tourist.
Thierry looked around, but there was no one else close by who was such an easy mark, and Roland would be expecting him.
Decided, he sidled up next to her and reached out to slice her purse strings. He pulled on the purse and cut the cords.
Her hand snaked out to grab his ear.
He grunted. “Let me go!”
She ignored his cries, dragging him back across the square toward the church. She pulled him into the dark alleyway beside it and leaned in to look him in the eye. “Show yourself, you little menace.”
Shaken, he dropped his disguise.
ANDY STARED at the boy who had just revealed himself to her.
For someone who’d been on such a crime spree, he was a mess. He was all skin and bones, smeared with dirt. His clothing was little better. She should have smelled him coming when he stole her purse.
He didn’t even look fifteen. His skin was sepia-toned, and his long dark hair was greasy and fell across his face.
But his eyes….
His eyes were lavender.
“Let me go!” He struggled under her grasp, but she held on to him easily.
“Calm down, Thierry. I’ve come a long way looking for you.” Even if you’re not quite what I expected.
That stopped him. “For me? Why?”
“Because you’re wasting your ability.” She shook her head. He had no idea what he was capable of, if he just applied himself. “Come on. Let’s get you something to eat, but first we’re going to return that purse you stole.”
“But I….”
“No buts.” She stared him down until he looked away. “Here’s the deal. You come have a meal with me. We’ll talk, and if I can’t convince you to come back home with me by the end of it, I’ll let you go. Deal?”
He looked into her eyes, as if trying to judge her honesty. He spat into his hand and held it out. “Deal.”
She shook, wincing inside at his slimy palm. Whatever it takes. “Now give me both purses.”
“That wasn’t part of the deal.”
She glared at him. “Now. Or I march you over to that sheriff over there and turn you in.”
The boy cursed, using a surprisingly wide array of words, a couple of which she’d never heard before. But at last he pulled them out of his carry sack and handed them to her reluctantly.
She put hers away in one of her pockets. She’d have to have the laces repaired. “Come on, then.” She took him by the hand as if he were her own son and led him back out onto the square.
Andy marched him up to the man, who was still talking to the sheriff. “Excuse me, sir, I believe this is yours?” She held out the coin purse.
The man took it, a smile spreading across his face. “Yes, it is. Thank you! Where did you find it?”
“This boy—”
“Thierry.”
“Thierry here found it. The thief must have dropped it in their hurry to escape.”
The man looked at the boy suspiciously. “He… found it? And he just gave it to you to give back to me?” His brow creased, and he opened the bag and rummaged through the contents. “It seems to all be here.”
“He was afraid if he came alone, you’d think he was a thief.”
Thierry glared at her. “I’m not afraid—”
Andy kicked him in the shin.
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