He’d instantly recognized that the woman had mastered Mara’s looping feminine penmanship. He would have known that writing blindfolded, just from the familiar sound of the pen moving across the page. The way she ended sentences with a flourish and crowned her ‘I’s with an emphatic dot. It was all so Mara.
Only this note hadn’t come from his Match.
Chason had wound up sitting on the floor, his back against the connecting door, trying to figure it all out. He folded the note into an even smaller origami wad, his mind racing. The words still weren’t vanishing off the page, much like the woman herself wasn’t vanishing into the ether.
And, if she was a living, breathing person, then she was an imposter.
She’d somehow copied his Match right down to her handwriting, though. The shape of her ears, texture of her skin, the way she said his name… All of it –every detail-- was so Mara. It fogged his mind to be around her. Or unfogged it. He wasn’t sure which.
He wasn’t sure of anything, anymore.
She’d even known the last words Mara ever said to him. How? Chason had never discussed that moment with anyone. Not even a Reflection Phase could have disguised themselves as a perfect Mara clone, complete with all her memories.
So, who was she? What was she?
He should have asked Zakkery more questions. The Smoke Phase wasn’t doing this alone. Someone else was in play. Probably the Banished Light Phase Chason had been searching for. But why would anyone want this woman returned to him? What were they trying to achieve?
Maybe Gaia just heard his prayers.
Chason gave his head an aggravated shake. No. She’d turned out to be the biggest lie of all. He didn’t believe in God or Gaia or some guardian angel Time Phase sent to Christmas Carol Chason back into the fold by saving his Match. A person had brought this woman into his life, no doubt for some malicious and soul crushing reason.
But, it wouldn’t work. Because, Chason might be teetering on the edge of madness… but he wasn’t stupid. He saw the truth about this fake “reality.” Whoever the imposter was she wasn’t Mara. And that was all that really mattered.
He couldn’t let himself…
The door to his room creaked open, a gigantic figure silhouetted in the threshold. Chason’s head snapped around, ready to brutally kill anyone who threatened the woman.
“Chason.” Raiden’s neon green eyes found him in the dim room. “You’re still alive? So not everything has changed, yet.”
Chason ignored the unorthodox greeting. With Raiden, you just had to accept the weird. “Do you see her?” He asked quietly. “Do you see her lying there or am I imagining it?”
Raiden’s brow creased into a frown, his gaze swinging over to the mattress and landing on the Mara imposter’s sleeping form tucked under the blankets. “You have a woman?” He sounded as shocked as Raiden was capable of sounding, his ruined voice rasping over the words. “Where did she come from?”
“I traded Zakkery, of the Smoke House for the Justice Box.”
A long pause. “You gave a Banished Phase one of the Tablets of Fate? In exchange for a woman?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wanted her.” Chason said simply.
Raiden digested that. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking behind his implacable mask. After a beat, he turned and started towards the bed.
Chason’s body tensed, not liking Raiden getting close to the sleeping woman. What if he tried to take her? The abyss of insanity swirled to life again, rebelling against the idea of another man being so close to her, especially when she was vulnerable.
He quickly got to his feet and moved to the other side of the mattress. He reached out to put a possessive hand on the woman’s arm, eyeing Raiden warningly. “Mine.” The word was a line in the sand.
Raiden watched him for a beat, the same way somebody would watch a tiger if they stumbled across one stalking them in the wild.
“Yours.” He agreed softly. “I will not harm her. You have my word.” He crouched down beside the bed, moving slowly as if he was afraid any sudden movements might set Chason off. “Who is she that…?” He stopped short as he got a clear view of her face. Raiden had never met Mara, but everyone in the realm knew what she looked like. She was one of the most famous Phases ‘alive.’ “Oh, Gaia.”
“Do you see her, too?” Chason demanded.
“Yes.” Raiden whispered transfixed.
So she wasn’t just in his mind, then. “She looks like Mara.”
“I know. I saw your Match returned to you, but I didn’t expect…” He trailed off and shook his head. “Who is she?”
Chason swallowed. “She says she’s Mara.”
Raiden’s eyes catalogued her features for a long moment and then dropped down to the ugly pendant she wore. “Interesting.” He was a man used to the odd and even he seemed baffled. “I need to touch her.” He shifted his hand, keeping it palm up so Chason would see he wasn’t a threat. “It will be quick.”
Chason’s fingers still tightened on the woman’s arm, every instinct in body screaming at him to pull her away from Raiden. Matches didn’t like other people touching their Match. It was basic biology and, whoever this woman was, his energy was telling him that she was his.
She made a small noise in her sleep and shifted under the increased pressure of his grip. Mara had always been a deep sleeper. “Chason.” She murmured.
Chason flinched, his whole body jolting at the sensual sound. Purple eyes slashed over to Raiden, wanting to slaughter the man just for hearing it.
Raiden stopped moving, his face cautious. “It was your name.” He said quietly. “No one else’s. Be calm.”
“It will always be my name.”
“Yes. As it should be… if she’s your Match.” Raiden stipulated. “I’m going to touch her House designation and see if I learn who she is.”
Chason’s jaw clenched at the idea. “You can do that?”
“Yes.”
“Can anyone else? Anyone female?”
“Yes, but I’m the only one who will do it without any questions.” Raiden’s tone didn’t change, but Chason still heard the challenge in it. “Anybody else will go straight to the Council, the moment they see her. Unless you want Job involved.”
No, he didn’t want Job involved. Christ, that do-gooding bastard would either think Chason had used some heretofore unknown black magic trick to raise Mara from the dead or he’d assume the woman was sent to hypnotize Chason into doing her nefarious bidding. Either way, he’d never trust Chason’s judgment and stay out of it. Hell, not even Chason trusted Chason’s judgment. Job would certainly interfere. Maybe even try and take the woman.
No one would take the woman.
Chason ground his teeth. Raiden’s powers were bizarre and unnatural, but he trusted them. “Fine. Do it. Just make it quick.”
Raiden inclined his head. “You will see every move I make.” His massive palm gently touched the purple streak in the woman’s hair, his eyes on Chason. “Be calm. It will take just a few seconds.”
Even that was too long.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Chason felt his powers threaten to explode. Seeing another man touch the woman was like having his fingernails ripped out with pliers. Especially since the House designation was something only a lover would ever touch. It was too much. Every fractured piece of him wanted to go for Raiden’s throat. “Get your hand off of her. Now.”
“It’s done.” Raiden pulled back, his palms going up in surrender. “Chason, it’s done.”
Chason struggled to get oxygen into his lungs. He leveled a finger at Raiden and saw that it was shaking. “Never touch her, again.” It was the most serious warning he’d ever given.
“I won’t.” Raiden got to his feet and moved back from the bed. “Come into the hall, so we don’t wake her.” He headed back towards the door, no doubt to give Chason space.
Chason couldn’t think passed another man fondling her hair, yet. His own han
d found the purple streak at her temple, smoothing away Raiden’s touch. He shouldn’t have allowed anyone else to touch her, even for a moment. Not without her consent. Actually, not even with her consent. It was wrong for another man to be near her. She was his.
“Chason?” Black eyes fluttered open, her voice still half asleep. “Are you alright?”
He stared down at her --soft and warm and lying safely in his bed-- and felt himself calm. “Yes. I must go talk to Raiden for a moment.” He told her about Raiden living in the fortress, even if he had glossed over most of the rest of the sordid Reprisal history.
“You’ll come back to me, though?” She looked concerned.
“There is nowhere else I would go.” No other spot in the universe mattered to him. Just her and this bed. “Go back to sleep, princess.” The name came easily, because there was nothing else he could think to call a woman who looked like Mara, but wasn’t.
She gave him a small, trusting nod, her eyes already sliding shut, again. Chason felt his heart turn over. She was so beautiful.
Mara is real.
He shook his head firmly and followed Raiden out into the hall. “Well?” He demanded.
The Radiation Phase was leaning against the far wall, his face stoic. “I don’t know if she’s Mara, but I can tell that woman is not just a Reflection Phase who’s copied her face.”
“So, what is she?”
“She’s of the Magnetland, just as the marker indicates.”
“She’s from my House.” Triumph filled him. “She belongs to me, then.” He was King of the Magnetland. Not even Job could dictate what he did with his own people. The woman was his by goddamn law.
“Chason, she could be Mara.”
He shook his head. “She’s not.” He wouldn’t let himself believe that. It would mean abandoning even his slim toehold in “reality” and throwing himself into willful fantasy. He couldn’t do that, yet. Not until he knew who had sent the woman. He had to fight the darkness for as long as he could. Everything was trying to trick him into falling and he had to hang on.
Raiden frowned. “This is an unusual day. We should have her DNA tested and be sure.”
“What would that prove? They had her body. For all I know she’s a clone.”
“A clone.” Raiden’s expressionless tone said it all.
Chason scowled. “Fine. Not a clone. A fucking robot. I don’t know what she is, except she’s not Mara. Her energy’s different. Do you know of anything that can bring women back from the dead and alter their energy?”
“No, I don’t. I don’t know what’s happening here, but something has changed.” Raiden insisted. “The timeline in my visions is shifting.”
“So?”
“So, this woman is not my primary concern. I only have thirty-six hours to…”
Chason cut him off, not knowing or caring what Raiden was talking about. “The woman is my primary everything. Is she safe in your new vision?”
“No one is safe.” The words were grim. “Whatever is going on, we need to stop it quickly it before it engulfs all of reality. The woman could be a threat to you.”
“She’s not.” He believed that on a level deeper than any “reality.”
“No matter what, Chason, you must survive. You are vital to the future and you have no idea what I will sacrifice to ensure that the future plays out correctly.”
Chason’s head tilted. “Who says what future is ‘correct’?”
“I do.”
“How convenient.” Chason scoffed. “And it doesn’t matter, anyway. I’ve told you, I have nothing to offer any future. Just drop it and tell me how to protect her.” Chason didn’t care about himself. He cared about the woman. “It’s not a coincidence that your visions are going to hell the same day Zakkery showed up with her.”
“I know.” Raiden was quiet for a minute. “I thought you said a Banished Light Phase was behind Mara’s kidnapping. The writing on the Justice box was in their ancient language. Or, at least, close to it. How did this Zakkery become involved?”
“I don’t know. But that son-of-a-bitch was Banished, too.”
“There were no Banished Light Phases in the Cloudland, though. We checked a hundred times.”
“Then this guy is hiding someplace else.”
Raiden checked the readout on his watch. “We might not have time to find him.” He declared enigmatically and crossed his arms over his chest. “No matter who set it in motion, the future is altered. That’s the problem. The most obvious way to fix it is to get rid of the woman and see if that resolves the issue.”
“I’ll kill you first.” It wasn’t a threat. It was a calm statement of fact.
“You’ll try.” Raiden agreed. “I know that, too. But, I’m far past worrying about my own fate.” He sounded tired, now. “Still, I have no desire to harm you in a fight. Your death would doom the world.”
“I won’t make it without her.” Chason told him baldly.
Raiden was one of the few people Chason wasn’t entirely sure he could best with a sword, so it was best to be blunt. The Radiation Phase was an “ends justify the means” kinda guy. He might speak in monosyllables and riddles, but he was always thinking about what was best for the vast future he was writing. He wanted Chason there, so it was vital that he understand that woman had to come, too.
“I mean it, Raiden. If I need to be alive, she needs to be alive.”
Raiden lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Very well. We don’t have time to bicker about the matter. If you want her, she’ll live. We still need to know why she’s here, though. If you got her from Zakkery, we should start by interrogating him.”
“Fine. He was in the Smoke Kingdom a few hours ago, but he jumped before I could finish questioning him. He said someone would be looking for her and not much else. We had a disagreement.”
“Is he dead?” Raiden asked impassively.
“No.”
“Then, I’ll find him.” He leveled a finger at Chason. “Do not leave this House until I return. Just stay here and figure out who that woman is. She’s tied to whatever’s happening to the future.” Green eyes glowed with all the secrets of the world. “That necklace she wears is powerful. I can feel it. Whatever it is, it’s older than Elemental energy.”
“She says a Time Phase gave it to her.”
“Alder, of the Fire House claims Zakkery stole a necklace from Kingu.”
“Kay’s son?” The primordial Khaos had been a being of unimaginable power and Kingu himself was a god. “Is it the same necklace my woman is wearing? How did a Time Phase get it?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps we should take the woman to Kingu for answers.”
“He’s a monster.”
“He’s Matched to Hope, of the Fire House, now.”
“And joining those thugs makes him less monstrous?”
“He was also in the Cloudland for a time… with the Banished Phases.”
Chason considered that. “Fucking hell. What is going on?”
“I’m not sure.” Raiden clearly didn’t like saying those words. He was used to knowing life’s every plot twist. “I’ll see what I can find out.” He stepped back, preparing to jump, only to hesitate. “It is interesting, though.” He said conversationally.
“What is?”
“Since Mara’s body was stolen from her crypt, every time we’ve spoken, you asked about my visions. Every single time, you’ve asked me when your Match will be returned to you.”
“So?”
“So, this time you didn’t feel the need to ask.”
Chapter Six
Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it begun, or if there were
A day when it was not.
It has no future but itself
Emily Dickinson- “Pain has an Element of Blank”
Mara dreamed of the past.
Only it wasn’t a dream.
She was asleep, but she knew that this was another mem
ory-sharing.
Every Match had them. It was a way for them to see into each other’s memories and learn about their partner. Mara and Chason had already had their memory sharing when they first Phazed, so Mara had no idea what had caused a second one. She’d never heard of a couple having two. Still, whatever had triggered it, it must have been powerful. This time everything was so much more vivid.
She was standing inside Chason’s memory of her ninety-four birthday and everything was exactly as she remembered it. Every single detail. It was like being in the dining room, again and watching it all happen for a second time. Only now she was seeing it from the outside and understood so much more than the young girl she’d been.
Berke, King of the Magnet House scowled at the past-Mara as she came into the room. Mara had been ten minutes late for dinner. Six months before, that would have crushed her. But, in the year since her Phazing, she’d become more and more immune to Berke’s censuring looks.
Too bad Chason never managed to ignore his father’s attitude. He could never free himself from Berke the way Mara had. He always wanted his father’s approval and it would never happen.
Chason always tried so hard to be perfect.
Mara knew what that was like.
“Is that a party hat, Mara?” Berke demanded.
“Yes.” Mara watched herself pull the sparkly purple cone off her head and take her place across from Chason. The table was like a tarmac. Long and wide, it was suitable for landing planes or performing ritual sacrifices. She tucked her hair behind her ear and stared down at the plate full of healthy, tasteless food in front of her.
Mara sighed, feeling sorry for her past self.
Why didn’t they ever have pizza?
“You went to a party today?” Chason asked. His eyes flicked from the festive hat to Mara’s face. “For your birthday?”
Real-Mara frowned. He’d remembered that it was her birthday? That was… interesting. The Magnet House didn’t pay a lot of attention to special dates on the calendar. Every day was pretty much like the last.
Her past self poked at the formless dinner in front of her and didn’t seem to notice. “Yes. Number ninety-four. It was fun. The Water House was there. Ty’s such a cutie. And Prinny made this ridiculous purple cake. It was completely lopsided. I have no idea why she thinks she can be a baker.”
Queen of the Magnetland (The Elemental Phases Book 5) Page 11