by J. Sselxuyt
“Yeah, Becky called all my students and made up some excuse,” the blonde says, frowning. I know she’s trying to understand just how time can act differently between the two worlds, and I wish her better luck than I had at figuring it out. Time is supposed to be a constant, right? Well, unless it’s warped by powerful gravity, but even then. . . . Ahh, forget! I’ll never figure it out.
I turn my attention to the maimed mermaid, and steel myself for the news I need to give her. “Our apartment complex burned down. Everything on our floor was lost.”
Brooke looks down at her lap for a moment. I can tell she’s trying to get her breathing under control. When she does, she looks back up at me and asks, “How?”
“TanaVesta sent a fire ant after me. It attacked me in my apartment,” I tell her evenly.
“Fire ant?” she asks me, arching one delicate eyebrow. I realize this is another term I’d made up. I tell her about the monster, and it’s Angela who gives us the fire ant’s true name.
“Myrmidons. Their king, Aeacus, is one of the Pillar of Fire’s staunchest supporters. When she can’t use Kobolds to do her errands, she sends in the Myrmidons.” The succubus’s eyes are wide as she looks wonderingly up at me.
“How did you defeat it?” Areth asks me, buzzing up to my face. “You’re too weak to fight it directly, and you don’t look burnt to a crisp.”
“A friend from work helped me,” I say defensively, waving away the little fairy. Too weak, indeed!
Turning to AnnaBelle. My gaze goes hard, and I watch her fidget for a moment, before I speak. “Annabelle, I know when Lisa attacked me, she was being controlled. I could see it in her eyes. You weren’t.” I let that hang in the air for a moment, waiting for her reply. She remains silent, however, and I continue, “I understand that you thought you were talking to God, but we need to know we can trust you.”
She finally looks up and meets my eyes. “There is nothing I can say to justify my actions. You mentioned that our world has changed. I don’t know what to believe anymore. I understand if you decide to drop me off somewhere.”
Shaking my head, I soften my tone. “I won’t just abandon you. You chose to come with us, to save someone you’d never met before, and didn’t owe anything to. Your moral compass, while sometimes irritating, has mostly still been good. All I ask is that from now on, you consider what you’re being asked to do.”
She nods, and I turn back to Brooke and Angela. “I don’t understand why the thing didn’t control you?”
“It tried,” Brooke says. “I could hear its voice in my head, telling me what to do, but I wouldn’t do it. I couldn’t hurt you.”
“It was the same for me,” Angela adds. “It kept talking to you, but you ignored it. When it got angry and AnnaBelle failed to attack you, it ordered the rest of us to kill you, but I was able to refuse it.”
“I’m so sorry I was too weak to resist,” Lisa pipes up, her voice full of sorrow. “I didn’t want to fight you, but the voice was too strong.”
“It’s okay,” I tell the martial artist, hoping to never have an occasion where she tries to kick me in the head again. I think I understand what the difference was. Angela and Brooke have both professed their love for me, while Lisa only cares for me. There must be something in that kind of bond that allowed the other two to resist. “What I don’t understand is; why couldn’t I hear its voice?”
The four women that had been there during the attack exchange glances. None of them know why.
“Are you talking about a being of pure light?” Surprisingly it’s Ondine who asks. I nod, and she continues, “Its voice isn’t something heard, so much as sensed through the colors it throws off. The colors somehow communicate what it wants.”
“And you’re colorblind!” Brooke says excitedly. “That means you’re immune to its influence.” She stops, and turns to Ondine, horror suddenly thick in her voice. “How do you know about that thing?”
Ondine fidgets for a moment before answering. “Ever since you returned with Lord Varun, the thing has been having meetings with the Pillar of Water.”
“Shit!” I exclaim, and then cover my mouth. I hadn’t meant to use that word, but it is appropriate. Everyone looks at me, some more shocked than others, and I explain, “The same creature was giving orders to TanaVesta while she held me captive. I don’t know what those orders were, because I couldn’t understand it, but TanaVesta had been afraid of it. All I know for sure is that she planned to use me in an attempt to kill the other Pillars.”
“You escaped from the Pillar of Fire?” Areth asks excitedly. “You’re more interesting than I could have hoped for!”
I glare at the pixie, but it doesn’t affect her.
“If that thing is corrupting the Pillars, then we’re in some serious trouble,” Brooke says worriedly. “You said that TanaVesta was trying to kill the others, and it sounds like she succeeded with Fujin, the Pillar of Air. If that light also has control of Varun, and that’s what’s making him act so erratic, then. . . .”
“If too many more Pillars fall, Earth might be in danger as will our world,” Angela finishes Brooke’s statement. The two look at each other, and I’m glad that they’re no longer at each other’s throats. I guess saving each other’s lives more than once is enough to start a friendship on.
“We still need to warn the other Pillars,” Angela adds, and I see Brooke shudder. The mermaid had tried that and paid the price for it.
“Who can we trust, though?” I ask. “Any one of them could be corrupted.”
That brings silence. Looking around the inside of my car, I realize that not everyone understands the situation.
“Angela, would you mind explaining the pillars and what’s happening to your Shadow World to Lisa and AnnaBelle?” When she nods, I turn to Brooke and suck in a deep breath. “We need to talk privately.”
The maimed mermaid’s chin quivers for a second, but she nods. She has to know what this will be about. She stands and follows me back to the bed.
“Privately,” I repeat firmly as I see Areth following us.
“Oh, you’re no fun!” the fairy pouts.
“Why didn’t you talk to me while you were in my mind?” Brooke asks as soon as we’re out of earshot.
“Because I was more worried about your health at the time,” I tell her honestly. I reach out to grab her hands, but she pulls them away from me.
“You hate me, don’t you? What you said to me before was just a lie.” I can already see tears streaming down her cheeks and dripping off her chin as she looks down at her clasped hands. “Why did you even rescue me? Did you just heal me, only to hurt me worse?”
“Brooke, no,” I plead with her. “I meant what I said. I do love you. Your safety and health are my top priority, yes, but I didn’t lie to you.”
Confusion paints her features as she looks back up at me. Reaching out for her hands again, she doesn’t pull away from me this time.
“This probably isn’t the best time, but I need to get this out. I know you were there when my parents were killed. I just want to get your side of the story.” I make sure to keep my voice free of accusation.
Aaaaand again she pulls her hands away from me. One step forward, two steps back.
“I-I can’t,” she stutters. “You really will hate me then.”
“Brooke,” I say softly, reaching out and placing my hand under her chin, “I’ve already figured out a few things, but I want to know the truth. I can’t stop caring for you. You need to know that, but I really need to know what happened. I need to know your side. Who were my parents? What were they?”
She turns away from me, but after a moment, she starts talking.
“I was only an apprentice assassin at the time.” Her voice is soft, and I have to strain to hear her. “Your parents were hiding from Lord Varun. They’d already been caught in an illicit affair. They escaped his guards and fled to Earth, where you were born.” As she speaks, her voice becomes firmer as if letting out this s
ecret she’s kept bottled up all these years is a great relief. “I was sent as part of a two person unit to kill your parent’s and you when they were found. At the time I didn’t know who the target was. It was to be my initiation into full assassin status. All my commander told me was that criminals on Earth needed to be taken out, and because one of them belonged to our realm, it was our responsibility. We were given special dispensation to take out our targets on Earth.”
Tears are flowing freely once again, but I refuse to interrupt her now that she’s finally talking. “I grew up with your mother. We were dear friends. She vanished a few years before the mission, and at the time I didn’t know why. I understood when I saw them sitting in the boat. When the time came, I couldn’t kill her or your father. My commander told me that if I wanted to be an assassin, I had to kill at least one of them.”
She turns to face me, and I can see that the worst is about to be said, by the fearful look in her eyes.
“I chose to kill you. I-I couldn’t do it with my blade, and so I chose to drown you. Your mom pleaded with me to spare you, beseeching me to protect her child. As her dearest friend growing up, she begged me, but there was no hope for it. My commander would have killed everyone there, including me, if I failed.”
Her body shakes with sobs, and I think I can figure out the rest. “You tried to drown me in that lake, but I didn’t drown,” I say softly. That must be where I really got my ability to breathe underwater, from my mother and not from Brooke. Which would also explain why I couldn’t transform my legs into a tail. . . .
She nods. “I told my commander that you were dead at the bottom of the lake as he finished cleaning your parent’s blood from his sword. He had been wounded, but refused to let me tend to it. In truth, I didn’t want to. I felt sick over what had happened. We went back to my world, and I was promoted to full assassin. As soon as the ceremony was over, I rushed back to you, but the difference in time. . . . It had already been two days. I feared the worst. What child can survive underwater for two days?” The mermaid hunches over as she sobs, and I place my hand on her back. How old is she? I wonder for the first time. For some reason I never seemed to notice that she didn’t really age as I got older. I guess she’s always just been a permanent spot in my life.
As soon as she feels my hand, she pulls away again. “Don’t touch me,” she says loud enough for everyone else in my car to turn and look. Everyone but Areth turn back away immediately in embarrassment. The fairy watches avidly. “I don’t deserve you,” Brooke continues, her tone only barely softening. “I don’t deserve to even be around you. You were my best friend’s son, and I couldn’t save her. I decided to abandon being an assassin. It was all I’d ever wanted in life, but when I looked into your gray eyes . . . all I could see was her screaming at me to save her baby. You were all she cared about. I vowed to protect you, should anyone ever come for you again.”
Without warning, she sits upright and turns to me, this time gripping my hands in a painful embrace. Her eyes are red and raw from crying, the tears staining her cheeks, but her voice grows fervent. “Hate me, Lyden, because I know I deserve it, but please let me protect you. Don’t send me away! I—“
I cut her off with a kiss. It feels like the only thing to do at the moment. She hadn’t killed my parents. She had even saved my life, though she hadn’t realized she was doing it at first. I can’t hate her, for she truly had been my protector through my entire life.
“I love you,” I whisper as I pull back a little.
“But . . . but why?” she demands.
“Because. . . .” I stop to think, and give the only answer I can come up with that fits. “Because I do.”
She tackles me to the bed in a fierce hug. You’d never know that just a few hours ago, she had been weak and grievously wounded, with the strength of her embrace.
“Would you two like to get a room?” Lisa asks with a smirk, but when I look at her, I can see pain in her eyes too. I know she’s worried about me leaving her behind for the mermaid and the succubus. I can’t say that her fear isn’t entirely justified either. I’ve admitted to loving the two women from the Shadow world, but not her.
“Only if you promise to join us,” I tell the martial artist. That seems to lessen the pain in her eyes as she smiles and shakes her head.
“You knew my mom?” I ask, turning back to Brooke. “I assume she was a mermaid, then?”
Brooke’s smile is sad. Her eyes are still haunted by her actions, and I wonder if that will ever go away. “She was my greatest friend, and arch nemesis. We competed at everything. She was a faster swimmer, but I was more agile. I had been shocked when she chose not to become an assassin, but looking back now, I know her heart was too gentle.”
“What of my father? Did you know him?” I ask hopefully. My memories are so few of the two of them. I can’t even remember their faces anymore.
Her face gives away the answer before her words do. “I never saw him before that day. I don’t even know who or what he was.” She must be able to sense my depression at this news. “I know he was very powerful, whatever he was. My commander had been wounded while killing them, and he was the best swordsman I ever knew.”
Well, that’s something, at least.
“Lyden,” Angela asks carefully, coming up to us, “I hate to interrupt, but there is more we need to talk about.”
Brooke hurriedly turns away, wiping her eyes clear. We head back up to the middle of my car.
“They catch you up to speed?” I ask Lisa and AnnaBelle.
“Yeah,” Lisa says as the older woman nods. “Basically, if we don’t find a way to stop that light monster, we’re fucked.”
I flinch at her terminology, but that pretty well sums it up.
The rest of the drive is spent trying to come up with a plan to stop the light creature. The only thing we can all agree on is that we need to warn the other Pillars.
I use Lisa’s phone to check my voicemail, and groan as I listen to the messages. The police want to talk to me again, and aren’t very happy I’m not returning their calls. Sheila lance also left a few mixed messages. In the first one, she chews me out and fires me. The second she calls up to make sure I’m okay, and the last message makes me wonder if she’s bipolar as she simultaneously demands I call her back, and tells me my vacation is over, and I need to be back to work on Monday morning.
“AnnaBelle,” I call to the older woman, “I’ve got three messages from Sheila. Have you called her yet?”
She looks at me, her eyes sunken slightly. I truly feel bad for her. The mature woman’s entire life was built on a foundation of faith that had always seemed rock solid, but after the events underwater, that foundation is crumbling.
“I called in before we left and told her that I had a sick friend I needed to take care of,” AnnaBelle informs me. “I didn’t know how long we would be gone.”
At first I’m shocked that she would lie like that, until I realize that it wasn’t so much of a lie after all, just not the whole truth. At least I haven’t lost the woman her job.
The sun is just setting when we pull into Lisa and Becky’s driveway. Annabelle’s SUV is there, driven here by Becky, and she gives quiet goodbyes, before driving away in her large vehicle. I really hope she’s going to be okay.
Becky isn’t home, but Lisa sends her a text, and the short woman arrives within a few minutes. She hugs Lisa furiously, before turning and pulling me into a tight hug, her head resting against my sternum.
“I was so worried about all of you,” she exclaims, wiping tears of joy from her eyes. Then she seems to notice the other women, and blushes prettily. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I guess I didn’t notice you.”
“Becky,” I start, placing my hand between her shoulder blades, “this is Angela, you already know her.”
“The succubus? But I thought she was a . . . well, a punk girl,” she states, confused.
Angela laughs easily, and as she walks forward, her body shortens along with
her hair, the hair changing from blonde to blue, and her makeup changing as well.
“Would you quit doing that!” the succubus exclaims, though she ruins it by laughing. “As you can see, I can take the form of whatever Lyden wants.”
“Whatever. . .?” Becky’s eyes turn to me, and I wish Angela hadn’t worded it that way. “Should I dye my hair too, Lyden? Or pierce my nose?”
“Umm, no. I like you the way you are,” I tell her, before sending another image at Angela. “This is what she looked like when she was still human.”
This time Angela doesn’t laugh, but instead glares at me. What did I do?
“Please, don’t,” she tells me through clenched teeth. “In this world I was a slave, and I’m not comfortable looking like this here.”
“You should be proud of who you are,” I tell her. But still. . . . A moment later, she is standing back in her punk form. This had been the way I’d seen her first, and still strikes me as the most her version of the succubus.
“And this is Brooke, the woman we went to rescue,” I continue the introductions. “I think you met her once before?”
“It’s very nice to meet you,” the redhead says, stepping forward.
Becky just stares for a moment, before uttering, “You’re beautiful.” Lisa lightly slaps the short woman’s shoulder, and she blinks, her cheeks going bright red.
Brooke just smiles, before saying, “Thank you.”
“She’s a mermaid,” I hear Lisa say, and am surprised that Becky only nods her head. “This is Ondine,” Lisa continues the introductions. “She’ll be staying with us for a bit. She’s also a mermaid.”
“Thank you for your hospitality,” the one-time guard states formally.
“Ooh, ooh, is it finally my turn?” Areth comes zooming out. Becky gasps as she sees the fairy. “I’m Arethusa, but you can call me Areth.”
“A fairy,” Becky says slowly in awe.