by Kate Sander
"I remember!" Senka countered, launching herself backwards and barely getting a sword up to block a head high thrust.
I remember, she thought. Why do I remember? Senka blocked and countered, trying to protect herself and Tomo while figuring out what was going on.
She wasn't going to lose Tomo again. There was no way in hell.
"My ring!" Senka yelled at Ujarak. Jules' ring. When she didn't have it, she couldn't remember. In a quick movement, she retreated and dove, pulling the chain off from around her neck.
"Catch!" She yelled and quickly tossed the chain with the ring to Ujarak, who deftly caught it.
"We need to get that on her so she remembers."
Pain, through her right bicep that made Senka curse. In her distraction, Tomo had been able to unlock her katana from the two tantos and cut Senka in the arm.
"What?" Ujarak yelled, staring at the ring that Senka had tossed to him looking utterly confused.
Senka saw her opening. A quick spin and she kicked Tomo in the chest. Tomo stepped back and slightly dropped the tip of her sword. Senka spun and kicked again. And again. And again. The flurry and the power generated gave Tomo no time to recover. Senka jumped and kicked her with two feet into the chest, causing Tomo to fall backwards.
Ujarak saw his opening and jumped in to help Senka, who was sitting on Tomo's right arm, trying to wrench the katana out of her grip. Ujarak jumped on the other arm as it was repeatedly punching Senka in the head.
Pressed onto the ground, Tomo let out a snarl and tried to bite her captors.
"Put it around her neck," Senka gasped. "Hurry."
Confused, but too smart to argue, Ujarak took the hit and put one arm out. Tomo took the bait and bit down, hard. Ujarak strung the chain around her neck.
Tomo's eyes flashed back to blue and she unclenched her jaw, letting a relieved Ujarak remove his forearm.
"Tomo?" Senka asked. Tomo looked around herself, confused. Trying a different apporach. "Charlie? Dr. Charlie Penner?"
Tomo looked at her, breathing hard, eyebrows furrowed.
"Your name is Dr. Charlotte Penner," Senka continued calmly. Both she and Ujarak were still sitting on the woman's arms, making sure she didn't move. Ujarak's forearm was slowly dripping blood from a large bite wound, but he seemed not to notice.
"You're married to Amanda Nguyen," Senka said. "You were my partner in the Zoya Task Force. Carter was our handler."
Tomo locked eyes with Senka. "A-A-Amanda?"
Senka smiled, "Yes. You are married to Amanda."
Her eyes softened. "I'm m-married to Amanda," she said with a smile.
Ujarak looked at Senka for approval and she nodded slightly. They both rose warily, releasing the woman's arms. Senka offered her hand. Tomo took it and Senka pulled her up to her feet.
"Senka," Tomo said, smiling at her, relieved. "Senka. I was looking for you."
Senka smiled back, "I was looking for you too …"
The arrow came from behind them. Senka was so distracted she didn't hear it coming.
Tomo looked down at the arrow vibrating in her chest.
"Oh..."
Falling to her knees, Senka sank down with her and caught her.
"No, no, no." Senka said. "No, Tomo. Not again. I can't lose you again."
"Don't.... Don't look them in their eyes." Tomo gasped. Blood was leaking from the corner of her mouth. Senka wiped it lovingly away. "He makes you scared. She steals your mind."
Senka had no idea who she was talking about.
"Amanda," Senka said softly in her ear. Tomo looked passed her and breathed in deeply.
"Amand..."
Her eyes went dark.
Senka placed her head down, eyes blazing.
"Sen-"
"Stay with her,' she snapped at Ujarak. A yell echoed from the trees. "Atta be, Kai," she said softly and ran hard to where the scream was coming from. Senka was fast on the best of occasions. Right now, she was furious. Anger bred speed.
It didn't take her long to catch up to the offender. Back against a tree, he held his hands up, trying to keep a snarling, snapping Kai at bay.
"Nice kitty," the man said.
"Kai," Senka barked. Kai stepped back and sat down, still staring at the man.
"Why?" Senka demanded, walking quickly.
"They made me," the man stammered. "The Ampulex. They told me to follow her and to kill her if she didn't kill you."
Senka held up a tanto.
The man paled. "No! No! They have my family. If you don't do exactly what they say they wipe your mind. They make you their slave. I had to or I'd never get my family back."
Fire burned in her stomach.
"You made your choice."
Senka spun and caught the man in the chest with her tanto, tearing upward and wrenching it out violently.
He died quickly.
Senka spat on his corpse.
Kai let out a warning rumble. Senka turned to face the person she knew was behind her.
"Drop it," the familiar face said to her, arrow drawn, pointed directly at her chest.
Senka smiled.
"Been a while, Tory."
26
Amanda
She felt the loss.
It was unlike anything she'd ever felt before. From dead asleep, she was awake gasping for air.
"Tomo, no," she sobbed, holding her head in her hands.
Dreams often show the truth, and Amanda didn't doubt that this was the case.
Tomo, calling for her, with an arrow in her chest.
Dead in this world. Dead in The Other Place.
The only family she'd ever had, her only love, her everything.
Dead for good.
Pain. That's all she could feel. Exhaustive, complete, consuming. Her heart was breaking, and it left a very real physical pain in her chest. All she needed was for this pain to end.
Pressing the call button to summon the nurse, she lay back down in her bed. She desperately wanted to remember her wedding. How utterly perfect her wife had looked in that dress.
But she couldn't.
The only thing in her brain was Tomo lying in the grass with a dark figure hovering, and she was calling for her. Amanda couldn't answer.
Well she could. There was one way she could join her.
A life without a happy memory of the only person who'd ever understood her was not a life.
The nurse walked in.
"I need a pen and paper," Amanda said softly.
"For what?" the nurse asked.
"I'm ready to write out my confession."
The nurse was taken aback, but she nodded quickly and exited the room.
Amanda didn't know how long she waited, but she figured the nurse had to get permission to bring her what she asked for. It wouldn't be a problem, they'd been trying to get her to sign a confession for months. Amanda hadn't. It was a finality to what she did and she couldn't bring herself to do it. It was too painful to admit to anyone, even herself, what her love, her weakness had caused her to do.
A rising star in the military, Amanda had always fancied herself as strong. She was a strong woman who could lead and make decisions.
Ha. The only thing she could do was sacrifice her best agent to save her wife. And she didn't even do that properly.
Honestly, the complete and utter lack of judgement she showed in that decision made her more scared of herself than anything. Her whole life, she'd lived by the book and had always made the right decisions. But then, seeing her wife's name on that research and knowing she was alive had shaken her to her core.
And she'd made the worst decision she could have possibly made. Instead of trusting Carter and Senka to bring her home, she'd decided to trade. A life for a life.
Then they'd both died.
The nurse opened the door without a knock, brandishing the pen and paper.
"We got permission," she said smiling. "I'm really happy you're being accountable for your actions."
Amand
a nodded, unable to speak.
The nurse handed her the pen and paper, staring at her expectantly.
This was it.
Amanda popped off the cap of the pen and sighed.
"Do you need any help?" the nurse asked nervously.
"I've got it," Amanda said. With a single, fluid motion, she stabbed the pen into the side of her neck. Hitting the carotid, as she meant to, she violently removed the pen as the nurse screamed.
Amanda fell back onto the pillow as blood spurted from her neck in time with her heartbeat.
"Tomo," she whispered.
Finally dying.
Alone.
27
Carter
"No," Ramjeet said in his ear. "No, Carter. Absolutely not."
"I'm not asking," Carter barked, striding to the school with his phone in his ear. "I'm telling you. Big difference, Ram."
"You're telling me that you want me to remake the crazy pills that the smartest woman on earth made so that you can go to The Other Place," Ram said. "That's what you're telling me. Now, take a step back from all this and tell me that's not crazy."
"I don't care if it's crazy," Carter said. A woman at the door gave him a sidelong glance and he lowered his voice. "It's happening. We're going to beat them at their own game. We can send people over there to help Senka." He strode through the door, remembering to hold it for the woman behind him. There were parents filing in for the upcoming game, so Carter didn't have a problem following them to the gym. He stayed outside the gym and found a mostly empty hallway. The gym didn't need to hear this conversation.
"Carter, I know you feel guilty as hell that they died," Ram said softly. "Hell, we all do. But this is desperation mode. We're working on finding Freudman. We will soon, I know we will."
"It's not soon enough," Carter barked. "We have Tomo's notes. Go through them, start at square one. Develop it."
"I'm not doing it, Carter," Ramjeet said.
"Then I will arrest you for disobeying a direct order," Carter snapped.
"Then arrest me," Ram sighed. "Honestly, do it. It's about time we stand up for what we believe in and not just blindly follow orders."
The resignation in his words calmed Carter more than the words themselves. Ramjeet was right. The plan was crazy. Even with Black Eyes on their side, they had no reason to believe that Senka and Tomo were still where they landed in The Other Place. It had been over two months. They would have moved.
Ramjeet was right.
"You're right," Carter said. "You're right. I'm sorry I snapped, Ram. I am."
"All good, boss," Ram said lightly. "We're all tired, shit gets said sometimes. But we're here for you and we're here together. Now, go watch your son's basketball game. Turn your brain off for awhile."
Carter nodded. "That's a good idea Ram. I will do that."
He went to hang up, then thought of something else that was nagging at him.
"Ram, do you think it's funny that my son ended up in the same facility as Tomo? Pretty random, right? That the unknown son of a ZTF agent would end up in the same child trafficking ring that happened to hold a ZTF agent?"
Ramjeet stayed silent for a while, mulling over Carter's question.
"Ram?"
"Thinking."
Carter let him think.
"Seems intentional," Ram said at last. "Maybe not that Isaac ended up being your son. Even you didn't know he existed until after that. I think maybe they took them from Toronto because they wanted us involved."
"Meaning they wanted Senka for Tomo all along," Carter said.
"Makes the most sense. Of course we'd follow our own kids. They must've known we were closing in."
"So they wanted to break us from the top down."
"They're Zoya too, right? Wouldn't be surprised if lots of this was planned out."
"Then we need to break out of their game," Carter said.
"Agreed. Not really sure how to do that just yet though."
"Find Freudman," Carter said. "Then we will figure out how to change the rules to our favour."
"Will do, boss. Cheer loud." With that, he hung up the phone.
Carter walked back to the gym. Exhaustion was taking hold. Two months of feeling like a failure were taking its toll. But as soon as he stepped into the gym and saw his fifteen-year-old son score a three-pointer the stress melted away.
By the third quarter, Carter was cheering as loudly as everyone else. He was so engrossed in the game, he didn't feel his phone vibrate in his pocket.
"Open your eyes, ref," he shouted. "That wasn't a foul. He barely touched him."
Other parents shouted their agreement. Phones started going off around him, breaking his concentration as the opposing team missed both the free throws.
Beep. A parent would look down and read. Beep. Another parent. Then the whispers started. Then parents were rushing out of the gym, holding their phones to their ears.
Carter pulled out his phone. Five missed calls from Ramjeet.
Before he could dial, Ramjeet phoned another time.
"What happened?" Carter asked as soon as he held the phone to his ear.
"You haven't seen the news?" Ramjeet asked.
The kids had stopped playing their game and parents were dragging them out of the gym, worried looks on their faces.
"No, what happened?"
"San Fransisco. It's gone."
"What? What do you mean it's gone? That makes no sense."
"I know. There was a crazy earthquake. It's gone. All of it. Millions of people. They're gone."
A girl in the stands started crying as she looked at her phone.
"We're out of time, Ram. You were right. We need to find Freudman and stop this. We need to stop this now."
28
Tory
Bow drawn and pointed at the chest of the woman she thought she knew. A few years ago, she would have given her life for Senka. Now she would kill her without hesitation.
How times have changed.
Senka was standing in the forest with her hands by her sides. A giant panther, a mix of spotted and black, sat next to her. The man who had been begging for his life was lying dead at Senka's feet.
"So, Tory," Senka said. "What's going on here?"
Tory didn't move. She kept the arrow pointed for the kill. Senka was fast and she needed to protect herself.
"You remember me?" Tory asked.
"Of course. I remember everything."
"I watched you die."
"Don't pretend that you can't see things that the Shaman used to be able to. We both know you sent that ghost to get me back here." Senka nodded to the dead man. "So that's on you."
"I didn't see any of this," Tory snapped. "I brought you here because I thought you were the same person as you were when you left. Clearly I was wrong."
"It's been, what? Five years? How could I be the same person?" Senka said. "That asshole just killed one of the only people I have ever loved. And, with how she was acting, I think that the Ampulex can control people."
Tory remembered the look in her father's eyes while he poisoned her.
"See," Senka said, smiling. "I'm not wrong, am I? That means that we can't trust anyone until those two are dead." She nodded towards the trees on her left. "That includes your partner over there."
Tory blushed. "You can come out, Eris."
A young woman of about fifteen stepped out from behind a tree next to the clearing.
"Where did you meet her?" Senka asked.
"She helped me out of a jam a few days ago," Tory said, eyes downcast. "She's fleeing the Ampulex."
Senka watched how the girl carried herself. "She's a Zoya. I wouldn't trust her."
"You're a Zoya," Tory snapped. "And I used to trust you."
"How’d that work out for you?" Senka said. She laughed when Tory didn't have an answer. "Last I checked, you're far from home. Shit's not going well in Langundo, is it? Did you ever find Titus and Sol? You promised me, and I promised their mother. Di
d you just forget about that?"
"I was told to leave," Tory snapped. "The Shaman told me to go north."
"And you listened, abandoning the country you grew up in and the children you promised to save." Senka shrugged. "I'm not the only one who has changed. When Zoya meddle in other people's business, it's trouble."
Senka went to walk away, when Eris put her arm across her chest, barring her path.
The panther let out a warning growl that was matched by the look of pure loathing Senka gave her. "It would be in your best interest to not touch me," Senka said. "I know you're a Zoya and you're young. You think you're invincible. If Tory wasn't here, and I didn't have a friend to burn, I'd kill you for that."
The girl went pale but she didn't move. Tory relaxed the bow. "It's okay, Eris," she said. "Let her go."
Eris dropped her arm and Senka brushed past her. "Let's go, Kai," Senka said. The panther rose and followed silently, giving Eris a low growl as he walked by.
"So that's your friend," Eris said, looking at the dead man. "I thought you said that she would save us."
"I thought she would," Tory said. "Now I'm not so sure." Tory looked at the girl that had come to her rescue. "You never told me you're a Zoya," Tory said. "I thought we promised to trust each other."
Eris shrugged. "I know. But I was a Zoya in the Ampulex army. I was ranked high. I thought you'd kill me if you found out."
"How high ranking?"
Eris turned to follow Senka. "The highest. I was their princess."
"Why did you leave?" Tory asked.
"They were controlling people. They were taking away their minds. I decided I couldn't be a part of that anymore."
"How can I trust you, if they can control people?"
"Well... I suppose you can't. However, when someone is being controlled, their eyes are white."
Eris followed Senka out of the forest.
The Book of All. That’s what all this was about. Monk Oh had said that it could only be read by a Zoya.
Tory hoped that it was worth it bringing Senka back here.
Following the overgrown path and lost in thought, Tory found herself exiting the trees, and staring at him.