“So you pulled him into your world instead, huh? I’m sure that was a surprise. I bet it completely threw him off and confused him.” Emily stepped closer to Wes. She was staring up at him with a smile on her face. “I’ve never told you this before, but I’ve never synced with anyone who could create as immense and detailed a world as you can. When I asked Ken about it, he admitted he’s never seen it either. I’m sure it was quite a shock for Seth to not only experience it, but to be pulled from what he thought was an amazing creation – his creation – into yours.”
Wes hadn’t thought about it before. He noticed that Seth seemed hesitant to follow him as Wes had sprinted away toward the castle when he’d first pulled him in. Was his world so different from what others were able to create? The thought puzzled him. He’d seen Emily’s world and she’d created an entire beach. Then he remembered that no matter how far they walked, they never got any closer to the pier they were walking toward. Maybe that was the limiting factor for Emily’s world – the objects immediately around her. You can see the distant landscape, but you can never interact with it. It was possible that other Mortuis were limited in similar ways. If so, his park really was incredible. It allowed both him and whoever he took with him to interact with his entire world, even if they were separated. He chuckled to himself. Well, no one had told him it wasn’t supposed to be like that.
Now, however, was not the time to dwell on the issue. He would explore this unique ability later. With his brother safe under AfterLife’s watch, there was only one pressing matter that needed his attention. His relationship with Emily.
Before he could say anything, Emily asked, “I’m sorry about Jez, Wes. I know you cared about her. Do you know what happened to her in the fire?”
Wes had learned the importance of getting to the point the hard way. In the past few days he’d also learned to trust his instincts, and right now his instincts were telling him it was time to be direct.
“Jez is gone, Emily. I tried to sync with her after the fire, but there’s nothing there. I feel sorry for her – she wanted to be an antemort so much she was willing to make some bad choices to get what she wanted. She didn’t care who she hurt. I think she regretted some of the decisions she made, but what happened to her was a result of those decisions. It’s sad, really.”
There was no point in lingering on the subject of Jez, and no purpose in dwelling on what had happened. What was happening now was more important, and she was standing in front of him. Emily was like a breath of fresh air in a life where air had little meaning. She was the only air he needed. She grounded him. His attempt to express his interest before had failed, but he wouldn’t give up on her. He knew she would never forgive him if he did.
“I was never really alive when I was an antemort.” Wes stepped toward Emily and gently touched her shoulder. “I felt like an outsider, watching myself go through the motions of life. I never felt like an active participant. I thought I was in complete control of my life, but I wasn’t, not really. I just let things happen. I allowed life to move on around me without consciously participating. Now, for the first time in my life, I feel like I’m truly alive and in control.”
Wes studied Emily’s face. She avoided making eye contact with him as she stared at the ground. He continued. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but I have to say it anyway. I love you, Emily. I will always love you. Only you.”
Still looking down, Emily closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side as if to shield herself from the impact of the words. If she’d been an antemort, Wes knew she’d be struggling to hold back tears.
“I can’t Wes,” she whispered softly. “You know I can’t.” She shook her head slightly.
Wes put his finger under her chin and lifted her face toward his. His whispered words were as soft as hers. “I don’t know that. I don’t know that at all. What I do know is that you’ve surrounded yourself with a protective wall. Maybe it’s time to take the wall down or maybe you’re still not ready. Either way, I’m perfectly willing to wait, but my feelings for you aren’t going to change.”
They were finally making eye contact and Wes realized it was the first time they’d been this close without going into sync. “Why did you come to Chicago, Emily? You didn’t have to come. No one told you to. You weren’t dispatched by Oscar. Why did you come here?”
“I had to check on you guys,” Emily said, pulling slightly away and motioning to Meri and then back at Wes, “I had to make sure you were okay.”
“You could have found that out at the Hub.” Wes shrugged. “No one sent you here. Why did you come?”
Emily took a couple steps back and looked toward Meri, who was still sitting on the bench patiently waiting. Then she turned back toward Wes. “I wanted to see you.”
Wes smiled at her admission. “You wanted to see me?”
“Sometimes a person has to see with her own eyes, you know, that someone is okay. I won’t deny that I care about you, Wes. You’re my little brother, remember?”
Wes winced at being called her little brother, but put a half-smile on his face. “You say that, but I don’t believe it. It’s part of your wall. One day you’ll admit that it’s more than that, and as I said before, I can wait.”
“You’ll be waiting forever.”
“Well, then, I guess it’s a good thing I have forever.” Wes walked toward Emily, who was standing between him and where Meri sat on the bench. “I better go. Meri’s waiting. We’ll take the train so you can head back to the Hub from here.”
Wes began to walk past her but Emily gently lifted her hand to stop him as he passed. “If I’m ever able to navigate out of this darkness I’m in, I wouldn’t want anyone but you waiting on the other side.”
Wes gave Emily a reassuring smile and briefly squeezed her hand. “If you want, I will be here to help you find your way through, Emily. If not, find your way quickly. I’m already waiting.” He continued past her and tapped Meri on the shoulder. “I’ve told Emily she can leave from here so we’ll take the train if that’s okay with you.”
Meri looked up from the game she was playing on her phone. “Sure.” She smiled and stood. “Let’s get going.”
Wes looked back at Emily, who had turned slightly to watch them leave. He didn’t want to leave her like this. He wanted to stay and help her deal with whatever pain she was fighting. What internal battles was she waging? What tormenting demons were preventing her from returning his love? Until she reached out for his help there was nothing he could do – another lesson he’d recently learned. She deserves to be happy, Wes thought. Everyone deserves to be happy.
After one more look in Emily’s direction, Wes and Meri turned and walked down the sidewalk to the nearest station. They could have caught a bus that would take half the time it would take to walk there, but they weren’t in a hurry so neither of them suggested it. Besides, after last night it felt good to walk down a sidewalk in the middle of the city and, at least for now, not worry about being threatened by Atumra soldiers. It would take time for the Atumra of Chicago to regroup and devise their next plan of attack.
Meri seemed to be following his train of thought. “It could be weeks before we begin to see Atumra activity in the area again,” Meri said, “but we will see it.”
“How familiar are you with their organization?” Wes asked.
“Pretty familiar, I’ve always been intrigued by them. They have a strong leadership that calls itself the Body. No one, not even the regional leaders in their own organization, knows where the center of command is. By now the Body has gotten word of last night’s events, and I’m sure they’re already working on a plan to hit back at AfterLife.”
“I guess last night was only the beginning, huh?”
Meri nodded. “Only the beginning.”
Chapter 32
There wasn’t another soul in the Great Hall of Chicago’s Union Station when Seth entered and moved toward the middle of the large room to find himself a seat facing one of the gr
and staircases. He’d sent an encrypted message requesting that someone meet him here, someone who had once meant a great deal to him before she’d sacrificed their relationship for her position within the Atumra. If he had ever loved anyone, it was her.
A slight echo reverberated through the Great Hall as Seth walked across the stone floor and sat down on one of the long wooden benches in the center of the magnificent room. He hoped his former companion would come before he needed to catch his train. It had been more than a day since he’d sent his message. She hadn’t answered, yet he waited for her anyway. He would give her a few more minutes just in case she decided to show. The confrontation with AfterLife two nights ago had forced him to lay low for now. He was sure she was restrained by similar circumstances.
His time with the Atumra was over, Seth knew that. The position he’d held was no longer his, and everything he’d worked so hard to build for them was no longer his concern. He could not return to the Body. He was certain they were already hunting him so he could be held accountable for his poor leadership, but he had no intention of allowing them to find him. They had ways of punishing failure that even he wouldn’t be able to endure.
This left few options. He could probably find refuge in AfterLife. Many of the new soldier recruits had defected during the fire. That organization was willing to take in any misplaced soul, and they might even see his defection from Atumra as a testament to their “superior motives.” No, he would rather self-sever than associate himself with them. He might be an outcast, but he still had standards. Besides, the Atumra had insiders in Afterlife; he would be no safer there than if he went back and answered to the Body.
He could go into hiding and survive on his own for the rest of his days, but that wasn’t his style. He liked being in control. He had a new plan he’d begun formulating shortly after fleeing the burning remains that had been the Atumra of Chicago. It was a plan more closely aligned with his personality. After all, Mortuis were designed genetically to be gods, and deserved to be in control of antemorts. He’d always known this. It was the natural order of things.
He’d also known from his earliest time as a Mortui that it was his destiny to restore this order, and now was the time. Not only would he do it, he would achieve his goals with or without the Atumra. His new plan was to use antemorts to help him. In fact, it would probably be easier to implement without the Body dictating every move he made, and antemorts were foolish enough that Seth knew he could manipulate them right into servitude.
He was also equipped with everything he needed to carry out his new plan. All the research concerning the antemort possession process as well as some other projects he was working on was backed up on an external hard drive that he held in his possession. He had purposely neglected to give all this information to the Body in the event that he was put in the very situation he was in now. To top it off, he had also been able to talk Doc, the brains behind all of this, into defecting with him.
The sound of an opening door at the top of the grand staircase drew his attention. It was the person he was waiting for. She’d come. Even though he hoped she would, he hadn’t truly expected her. She saw him immediately and descended the staircase, her high heels clanking against stone steps as she approached the bench where Seth was sitting. Her burgundy hair bounced as she walked, flapping back on its sides.
“Anne Marie,” Seth said, standing as she reached him, “I’m glad you came.”
“No you’re not.” Anne Marie smiled.
Her statement may have been sarcastic but there was some validity in it. It would be easier to follow his plan if he cut all ties with the Atumra. Anne Marie would be the last connection he would allow himself to have with the organization. Seth guided her to a connecting concourse where their conversation wouldn’t be overheard as they retreated from the Great Hall.
“I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you the other night,” Anne Marie said once they found their new spot. Her lips tightened around the words as if they were difficult to say. “I don’t blame you; I know the Body doesn’t understand what you were up against. Wes is more powerful than even I imagined he could be. Nothing in the reports from his training indicated he was capable of such things.”
Seth thought back to his encounter with Wesley Lohmann. Less than five months prior Wes had been an antemort. No one could have imagined it possible for Seth to have suffered such a humiliating defeat in the undeveloped Mortui’s mind. The world of Wes’s creation was more complex than anything Seth could have imagined, and the boy’s ability to be conscious in both the mind and the physical world was unprecedented. Seth loathed Wes for what he could do. Even he wasn’t capable of such things. “I want the boy severed.”
Anne Marie laughed. “What’s this? Are you afraid of him? I never thought the amazing Seth would be so frightened by such a young Mortui.”
“Oh no, he doesn’t scare me.” Seth slightly retreated away from her.
“You’re not worried that he’ll sync with you now that he’s been in your mind and sever you?” There was a small grin of pleasure on her face.
“No. He’s weak. He could have destroyed my body while he held me in sync but he didn’t. There’s weakness in mercy.”
“Well, I can’t sever him,” Anne Marie said, “at least not right now. The other Ancestors have him too close under their surveillance. Any action at this time could jeopardize my position with AfterLife and reveal my allegiance to Atumra. They already suspect a traitor among the Ancestors.”
“Who cares, Anne Marie? Leave them both and come with me.”
“And just where are you going, Seth? There isn’t really any place for you anymore.”
Seth maintained an emotionless mask, even as he began to feel a rising hostility toward her. He had wasted his time asking her here. She always was more driven by the Body and the Atumra than by him. “If you aren’t joining me, then I can’t in good faith reveal my plans.”
“Plans? For what?” Anne Marie raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Do you think I’d be foolish enough to reveal that we’ve even had this conversation? Being associated with you now would only cause my loyalty to be questioned, and I’d be subject to the same punishment you’d receive if the Body were to get hold of you.”
“I think this conversation has served its purpose.” Seth realized his relationship with Anne Marie would never be what it had once been. “I have a train to catch.”
“This will be the last time we can ever talk. I’m sure you understand why.” Anne Marie started walking back toward the Great Hall, “And this conversation never took place.”
“No,” Seth said, acknowledging that he’d already known what he’d come to find out from her. Her cold response to his offer to join him had told him everything. “It never took place. It’s already forgotten.”
As quickly as she had come, she was gone. In reality, Seth thought, she had gone years ago. When she was selected to join AfterLife as an informant for Atumra, she didn’t hesitate to take the position even though it meant they would never be able to see each other. No matter. Seth didn’t like being attached to another person. Personal commitments only slowed one down.
The train slowly backed out of the station and Seth watched the final glimpses of the Chicago skyline disappear as the train headed east. He would soon be in New York where he would transfer to another train headed to Washington D.C. The biggest fools of antemort society could be found in the nation’s capital. As an added bonus there were fewer Mortuis; less chance of being noticed. The constant media focus on the city and its inhabitants prevented them from being able to place people in positions of power for long periods of time without raising questions. It was because of this Seth had worked hard to refine the possession process. However, he wouldn’t need the possession process for what he had in mind. The antemorts would do all the work for him.
As the train traveled through the night, Seth noticed a young woman in the seat opposite him on the other side of the aisle. She reminded
him of Anne Marie; her hair was burgundy and she wore professional attire that gave the impression she was tough and meant business. As if feeling his gaze, the woman glanced up from her laptop and looked at Seth. Tonight, he wasn’t in the mood for the friendly exchanges that normally lead up to feeding. His eyes met hers, and after a few seconds she fell forward, her head hitting the keyboard of her laptop. Seth centered his head on his chair back and closed his eyes.
A few minutes passed and the train’s conductor came along the cabin to collect tickets. When he reached the young woman whose face was still planted into her laptop keyboard, he spoke loud enough to wake her, “Miss, excuse me, Miss.”
She wouldn’t wake, Seth thought, and it was stupid of him to have fed before the conductor had collected all the tickets. What would the conductor do when he discovered she was dead? This would surely delay his trip. Deciding to play the innocent onlooker, Seth watched as the conductor shook the woman a second time. After a third time, the woman sat up.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I must have dozed off,” she said as she shuffled through her bag, retrieved her ticket, and handed it the conductor. The conductor punched it, placed it in a holder above the seat, and continued down the car.
It can’t be, Seth thought, astonished. He had drained everything from her. He was sure of it. Was she Mortui? That would be the only reason she was still moving. He hadn’t sensed the possibility as he usually did when he fed on potential recruits. Was it possible that his mind was still on Anne Marie? No matter, it was all irrelevant at this point. If the woman was dead she would soon experience rigor mortis. More importantly, if she was dead, maybe he could use her.
He leaned over in his seat to get closer to the woman. “You took quite a dive into your computer. You must be tired. I didn’t want to wake you in case you needed the sleep.”
“I’m so embarrassed.” The woman was clearly flustered by what had happened, and she made a faint giggling noise.
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