by McGill, Brie
He disappeared.
Ninkasi rounded the corner in a hallway, and screamed at the top of her lungs.
Andrealphus stormed toward them in a blood red silk suit, hair matted wildly, lipstick smeared, and pulled the kluzein rifle attached to his belt.
“Cupcake! Back!” Aleister motioned for Ninkasi to retreat, and drew the anzein rifle strapped to his chest.
He drew too slow.
Andrealphus fired a supercharged kluzein blast at Aleister, engulfing him in a flickering ball of sapphire light.
Ninkasi froze, too terrified to run.
The anzein beads around Aleister’s body absorbed the energy, emanating a dim glow, and created an egg-shaped shield around his body. The beads successfully directed the kluzein blast away from his body.
Heaving a sigh of relief, Ninkasi leaned against the wall, lifting a hand to her chest.
Snarling, Andrealphus charged them.
Aleister widened his stance, pointed the gun at the giant, and fired a crackling blast of red lightning.
The giant hit the floor.
Hanging his head, Aleister relaxed his shoulders, letting out a huge sigh. “Shit.”
She skittered over to him. “He came out of nowhere!”
He glanced from side to side. “I’m sure there are plenty of other ways around this place that we don’t know about.”
“Let’s get out of here.” Ninkasi leaned forward, concerned. “You’re a good shot.”
Aleister dismissed her with a wave of the hand. “That’s what all the ladies say!”
She wrinkled her nose.
“Mother. . .” Aleister’s face flushed and he squinted his eyes, standing behind a slumped Andrealphus and wrapping his arms around his chest. “Fucker. . .” He strained and wheezed, lifting with his knees, trying to hoist the giant off the ground to drag him toward the door.
Ninkasi stood beside the iron door, gripping the wheel-shaped knob, cringing each time Aleister took another labored breath.
“I don’t think dead trees are this heavy—” His grip slipped.
The unconscious Andrealphus teetered forward. With his eerie makeup and flamboyant silks, he reminded Ninkasi of a porcelain clown doll.
A terrifying clown doll that came to life at night when no one was looking and murdered children in their sleep with Mother’s favorite carving knife. . .
She feared he would wake at any moment.
Aleister groaned and hoisted the giant, dragging him another several feet toward the door. He dropped him and heaved.
Ninkasi crossed her arms, tucking them into her chest. “I’m afraid.”
“Our current situation. . .” He tugged the giant along, tilting his head with exasperation. “Is less than desirable.”
She leaned into the locked handle, trying to budge it with her weight. “You could say that.”
Aleister dropped the giant at her feet.
Ninkasi studied his solemn, unconscious face; the nascent wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and the creases around his mouth suggested hatred, disdain, and cruelty. She shivered.
“Upsie-daisy.” Aleister gripped Andrealphus’s limp hand, smacking it against the ID box, unable to properly twist it to fit it into the scanner. He growled and dropped the arm. “Sweetheart, I need your help.”
She nodded.
“I’ll lift this bastard. . . again.” His eyebrow twitched. “You guide his hand into the box so we can get the hell out of here. Understood?”
“Understood.” She pressed her lips together in a grim smile, and disgustedly clutched his wrist like a biohazard.
With a deep breath, Aleister lifted him off the ground.
Frowning, Ninkasi straightened his fingers and shoved his repugnant hand into the box. She handled him with brevity, the same way she removed produce rotting in the back of her fridge.
The door clicked.
Aleister dropped Andrealphus’s massive arm, kicking it out of the way with a royal, pointed slipper.
Ninkasi yanked the squealing wheel, spinning it faster and faster, until a mechanism released and she tugged open the heavy vault. Digging her heels into the floor, she intensified her efforts.
Aleister nudged her aside and tore open the door.
Awesome quartz stalagmites jutted from the floor, like fallen skyscrapers, robbing her attention with the sparkling refraction of an eerie blue light. Ninkasi staggered forward, head tilted in wonder at the ceiling, mouth hanging open. “Aleister, what is this place?”
“Fucked if I know.” His ragged left hand tensed around the massive gun strapped to his torso. “Coming down here. . . has been like waking up in a dream inside a dream inside a dream.” He cleared his throat, suspiciously glancing over his shoulder. “Except. . . we aren’t dreaming.”
“It’s more like a nightmare I can’t shake. . .” She stared ahead, squinting.
The cave, glutted with magnificent towering points of terminated crystal, sprawled ahead in a winding path. Stone tiles carved with strange runes were embedded in the center of the floor, leading deeper into the mysterious chamber. Iridescent green and blue lichen infested the cavern, rippling with curious undulations, emitting an otherworldly pewter glow.
“After we break Orion out of here” —Aleister tromped ahead, scanning their surroundings— “I’ll punch him in the face.”
Ninkasi rubbed the back of her head.
“I don’t know why he didn’t tell me about this.” He threw out an arm. “I don’t know why he thought he had to come back here on his own.” Aleister slapped his forehead. “I don’t know why the fuck he threw away the life I gave him, when it was good. Stupid went and got himself into trouble, and now here I am, saving his ass, again. Why didn’t he stay home?”
She knit her brow.
Aleister spat. “It always comes down to me saving him.”
“Really?” She raised an eyebrow.
He grunted. “I’m trying to work out in my head why I bother.”
She pressed her lips together, concealing vague amusement. “Why do you bother?”
“He’s like my kid brother.” Aleister shrugged. “My careless kid brother that gets himself into stupid situations and takes for granted the fact that I’m always here to bail him out.”
She tilted her head. “You bail him out of situations like this often?”
He scratched his chin. “Mostly from the wine cellar.”
Ninkasi smirked.
“But this time, it’s worse.” Aleister pointed. “He never tells me what he’s up to. He’s not a bad guy. . .” He looked over his shoulder, musing. “He needs guidance. For example.” He gestured with his hand. “Honing his confidence and allegiance may have saved us from this predicament entirely.”
“Do you mean. . .” She looked at the vibrating lichens on the earthy floor. “Trust?”
He sighed.
They rounded a corner, entering a vast crystal hallway illuminated by lichens. On either side of the tiled pathway towered enormous, capsule-like tanks bubbling with an amber liquid.
Ninkasi turned to Aleister. “What is this?”
He shrugged, lifting his hands.
She rushed toward the tanks and skidded to a halt when she realized what was inside them—who was inside them—
Lilith.
Pressing hands against the glass, Ninkasi gawked at the tank, mouth hanging open in horror.
Suspended in the yellow liquid hovered an inanimate body of Lilith. Her petite body floated inside, long black hair fanning out, swirling in the tank like a shroud around her. Winding black tubes and wires attached to her head, her face, her chest.
She had no idea for what purpose the tubes were used. Ninkasi backed away slowly, and blinked. The snurgling and bubbling sound of the liquid flowing through the tanks was too much to bear.
The rows of tanks spanned endlessly through the hall, into the horizon. In each tank floated a mindless, inanimate Lilith, an empty Lilith, a copy of Lilith that hadn’t been harvested
for use.
Ninkasi stumbled blindly, flabbergasted.
Aleister caught her from behind. “We have to keep going.”
She pointed at the tank.
“We have to keep going.” He squeezed her shoulders.
“Aleister.” She turned and buried her face in his shoulder. “You know what she meant.”
“What Lilith meant?” He placed a hand on her head.
Ninkasi pulled away, suffocated by the pungent stench of sweat and cinnamon, and grimaced. “Her dying wish.”
He stared at the tanks in awe. “I had no idea this is why she was so unpleasant.”
“How many do you think there are?” Her eyes frantically scanned up and down the room. “Why would anyone do this?!”
Aleister pressed his lips together.
She threw her hands into the air. “What do you think they’re using her for?!”
“An incubator.” He glanced over his shoulder. “That would be my best guess.”
Ninkasi leaned away from him.
“She was obsessed with bloodlines, said everyone here is obsessed with bloodlines.” He stroked his goatee. “Maybe they’ve been doing this to her for an inconceivably long time.”
She placed a hand on her forehead. “Orion. . .”
“What if they’ve been cloning her for years?” His head jerked toward the tanks. “What if—”
Ninkasi dragged her hand down her face, and covered her mouth. “Her consciousness is imprisoned?!”
Aleister raised his upper lip. “That’s fucking gnarly if it’s true.”
“We have to. . .” Ninkasi balled her fists, and stared at the floor. “Kill her.”
“All of her.” He put his hands on his hips. “Apparently.” He shook his head. “Shit.”
Her mind raced. “She said there was a panel. . .”
Aleister nodded.
She ran her hands along the smooth, cool surface of the nearest tank. “There isn’t anything that resembles a panel or interface.”
“Let’s look around.” He marched down the hall. “There has to be something here we can use, somewhere.”
Every time Ninkasi caught the image of a Lilith bobbing in the tank from the corner of her eye, she felt her stomach flip.
Aleister wrinkled his nose. “We haven’t found Orion.”
She trotted after him. “Do you think he came for her?”
His eyes darted around the room. “I thought he came for revenge.” He shrugged. “But what do I know?”
Ninkasi focused on her breath, on trying to remain calm; her horrified expression reflected back at her in the glass of the tanks as she passed sleeping Lilith after Lilith. “How could anyone with an ounce of humanity think it’s okay to do something like this?!”
“You answered your own question, sweetheart.” Aleister rubbed the back of his head. “We’re in the land of zero humanity—possibly the land of zero humans.”
The Blue Butterfly
XVII.
“Oh god!” Ninkasi’s eyes detected a unique silhouette in a tank at the end of the hall; she broke into a dash, heart pounding, hoping it was and hoping it wasn’t Orion.
She wanted to find him—but not in a tank. She skidded to a halt, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Orion floated in the tank, unconscious, asleep, undressed, his long hair rippling in the bubbling liquid.
“Orion!” Ninkasi cried out for him, bashing her fist against the glass. “Orion, can you hear me?!” She glanced hopelessly at all the floating Liliths, enigmas that could have been living or dead, she didn’t know. Standing up on her toes, she frantically waved and flagged Aleister. “He’s here! Aleister, I found him! Here!”
Aleister made haste in a thunderous gallop, storming to her side. He shook his head, regretfully eyeing the tank.
“What?” Ninkasi slapped her hand against the tank. “Why are you making that face? Let’s get him out of here.”
“I wonder how long he’s been like this.” Aleister knocked on the glass, frowning. “I wonder if he’s. . . the only one.”
Ninkasi curled her upper lip, staring at the Lilith clones. “I can’t think about that!”
He pressed his lips together. “We might have to.”
“No!” She beat her fist against the glass. “Let’s break him out!”
Aleister wrinkled his nose. “What if we can’t wake him up?”
Ninkasi’s mouth hung open, gobsmacked at the suggestion. “We have to try, don’t we?!” She pointed angrily. “We can’t leave him here!”
He narrowed his eyes, and lifted a finger. “Didn’t Lilith say. . .”
Ninkasi pushed her nose against the tank, clawing at the glass; she felt tears in her eyes, watching Orion float imprisoned, helpless, senseless. She hoped he wasn’t dead, cloned, turned into a vegetable—or worse.
She thought about resting her head on his chest, the smoky smell in his hair, the wrecked agony on his face when she spilled a droplet of wine.
“He doesn’t know she’s here.” Aleister crossed his arms.
Ninkasi closed her eyes and swallowed. “What?”
“Lilith.” He pointed at the tanks. “She said Orion doesn’t know about this.”
“So?” She kept one hand against the glass; her only thoughts were of Orion.
He cracked his knuckles. “So we have to dispose of the dummies, first.”
Her upper lip curled. “And if they aren’t dummies?”
Aleister leaned in her face, and pointed at the row of tanks behind him. “Would you deny that poor girl a chance to rest in peace?”
Ninkasi jerked her head away, fingers sliding down the pane of the tank.
He grabbed her shoulder. “Let’s find that panel and destroy them.”
“You won’t tell him?” She hung her head, speaking quietly. “After we break him out of this?”
Aleister craned his neck to the side, glancing at Orion. “No.”
“So you want me to lie to him about this?” Ninkasi stared at the tanks. “Forever?”
“I think if anyone knows him better than me. . .” He turned around, surveying the hall. “It would be this little girl here.”
She sucked in a deep breath. “He’ll know you’re lying to him.”
“He will.” Aleister nodded. “But just because he knows I’m lying, it doesn’t make him a fucking mind reader.” He pointed at her. “Remember that. Nobody else can get it straight, and that’s why they’re all terrified of him.”
She shut her eyes. In bed, he was a mind reader.
It was heinous, the depth to which she wanted him, a painful desire made obvious by their separation, by his precarious situation.
Oh god, she fucking wanted him, she wanted him out of here, she wanted to be in his arms.
“He’s currently incapable of speaking, acting, or thinking for himself.” Aleister slammed a hand against the tank. “Therefore, as his longest standing friend and guardian, I have to make an executive decision about taking action in his best interest.”
Ninkasi was tired: she didn’t know for how long they traveled, for how long she went without food or sleep; it was impossible to discern anything about the natural world in this place.
She was tired of thinking. She wanted to go home.
“I’m destroying the clones.” Aleister clapped his hands. “Without negotiation.”
Ninkasi turned her back to Orion’s tank in an attempt to clear her head. “Then destroy them.”
He squinted one eye. “Now you’re cooperating?”
“You’re the boss.” She lifted her hands helplessly. “I don’t think we should condemn that poor girl to an eternity of suffering.” She stared at the floor. “I think we should do what we need to do and leave, as quickly as possible.” Her heart ached; it amazed her how raw, how strongly she felt.
Orion. . .
“This is what we need to inspect.” Aleister pointed to the platform in the middle of the hall, built near the door.
Turning her h
ead, she studied the raised circular platform embellished with charcoal mosaic tiles, riddled with abundant glyphs.
There were glyphs everywhere: glyphs on the podium, glyphs on the floor—zillions of glyphs, and Ninkasi never had been a fan of foreign language study.
Aleister climbed onto the platform and hunched over the stone dais riveted with engravings. He brushed a thick wool of dust away with his hand, squinted, and leaned over the pedestal, tracing the runes with his fingers.
Ninkasi lifted a hand to her chest and coughed, tasting the dust in the air. “What do you think it is?” All she could think of was leaving this place.
“A control panel.” He blew on the dust and wiped the buttons with his sleeves. “Give me a minute.”
She gingerly stepped onto the panel and peered over Aleister’s shoulder. “You can read it?”
He tilted his head. “I could read it better in bright light. . .”
“Where did you learn to read something like this?!” She put her hands on her hips. “I can’t even tell what language it is.”
“It’s the language of the Tall Ones.” Aleister sighed. “I learned it in The Brotherhood.”
“Here you go with The Brotherhood again.” Ninkasi leaned forward, supporting her body with her palms on the dais.
An unseen valve released a hiss of steam, and a sulfuric stench permeated the cavern.
“Watch it!” Aleister swatted at her hands.
She retracted her hands, eyes darting around the cavern. “What was that?!” She wrinkled her nose.
“Watch what you touch!” He gave a reprimanding glare.
She turned her back to him, watching the cavern change color with amazement.
The stench subsided; the moss and the lichens glowed a crimson red, and a golden light emanated from the crystals.
He smirked. “I think you found the light switch.”
Her finger hovered over the tiles on the dais. “These?”
Aleister squinted one eye, examining the buttons. He pressed two tiles further up the dais, followed by the tile Ninkasi discovered.
Another hiss echoed through the cavern; the quivering moss glowed with a bright silver light, and the crystals emanated a fierce shade of neon green.
“There we go.” Aleister clapped his hands. “Light switch!”