by Quil Carter
I looked at Nero. “I need you to get all of the evidence collected at the Jackson Compound. If there’s a rat… whoever it is…” I didn’t want to directly call out Silas or Julian, but they knew. “If they left evidence behind… I need you to find it.”
Nero nodded, he looked hesitant, but he nodded. “Okay, bro,” he said. “I can look.”
“Thank you,” I said simply. I turned to Ellis. “I need you to gather me all of the evidence from Finn’s death.” Ellis’s eyebrows rose at this. I didn’t like that reaction. “I don’t even know the rooftop Vlad was sniping us on. I need to know. I need to know the gun that was used, I need it dusted for prints. I need crime scene photos. And Garrett.” My brother froze when my eyes shot to him. “I need from you, the rooftop cameras. Can you get the video for me?”
Garrett withered under my gaze. “I… I don’t know if that roof had cameras–”
“It did,” I said. “Every Skyland rooftop has security cameras since the family picnic bombing and the feeds to those cameras go directly to Skytech’s Surveillance Force which you have control over. Garrett… I need that video from you.”
Garrett looked green. Ellis must’ve noticed his expression. “Let me look for the video first,” she suggested. “The thiens probably confiscated it during their evidence gathering. I’ll take care of it, Garrett, don’t worry. I know you have a lot on your mind right now with Kratz.”
“Kratz?” I said, an eyebrow raising.
Garrett nodded, his eyes on the floor and his posture slouched. “I think he may be cheating on me,” my brother admitted. “One of the scientists says that a greywaster, quite a handsome-looking one, for a greywaster anyway, has been hanging around Kreig. When the scientist mentioned it to Kratz, he defended the greywaster and told the scientist to leave him be. Kratz hates greywasters, if he wasn’t special to him, he would’ve asked for him to be shot.” Garrett sighed, looking miserable. “I haven’t called him on it yet. We’ve been together for so long… I almost don’t want to know.”
What a fool that scientist was. “Find out sooner rather than later, Garrett,” I said. I put a hand on his leg and patted it. “If he is, I’ll make sure he dies for it. Personally.”
He smiled thinly for that. “Thanks, brother,” he said, then his head raised and he looked at Ellis. “And thank you too, Ellis. I’m not good at… at hiding things from Silas, so I appreciate you getting those tapes, if they exist. You know Silas can read me like a book.”
“I trust you, even when it comes to Silas, Garrett,” I said. “If I didn’t trust you, you wouldn’t be at this meeting. I know…” My lips pursed and discomfort surged through me. I didn’t want to bare my heart, but as my lips moved, my hand reached down into my chest and it plucked it out of its cold cage. “I know this is a lot to ask… but I have to know what happened. I can’t move past Finn’s death until I know exactly what happened. I have to know if… he’s betrayed me. I can’t be with Julian if…” My teeth locked. I stared down at my tea, wondering why it wasn’t boiling from the glare I was giving it. “I can’t be with Julian, until I know he had nothing to do with this.”
All I can do… is pretend.
Is that who I was now? A great pretender? I had to pretend to be with Julian, with my heart guarded for my own protection. I had to pretend I wasn’t falling for Silas, the consequences of that just too dire.
That is who I was now, with my Finn but ashes on my mantle – I was a fraud.
Oh, Finn…
I will hate myself until the end of time for being too stubborn to admit I was in love with my sengil.
But until that day… I would do what had to be done to avenge you. Just, until that day comes, forgive me for what I have to do.
“We’ll help you, Elish,” Garrett said, his voice breaking. “All we want is for you to be happy… and we’re all–” He sniffed and his words were lost. Ellis put a hand on his shoulder and rubbed it, and her eyes lifted to mine.
“Elish, we’re worried about you,” she said quietly. “With your heart attack being triggered by stress, and Finn’s death… we’re worried you might spiral again. We just want what’s best for you; we want you to be happy.”
“I’ll be happy once I know Julian had nothing to do with this…” I said. “When that is put to rest, I’ll be happy.”
Garrett suddenly, and surprisingly, burst into tears. He put a hand over his mouth and began to cry, his head shaking back and forth. “He’s been such a good brother to us,” Garrett cried. “He’s been fucking perfect and now… and now this?” Garrett jumped to his feet. “I can’t do this. I… I have to leave. I’m sorry.”
I rose, my heart tugging for my brother. “Garrett…” I tried to stop him but Garrett walked past me, his head hung low and his feet carrying him as quickly as he could. He opened the entrance door, and disappeared through it.
His words had moved me. I had been trying hard to be a good brother towards him, and the fact he was upset over this happening to me… made me feel closer to him. I would continue to be the brother he’d said I was, and if Kratz ended up being a cheater – I would personally end him, for Garrett.
Strangely, there was another sniff behind me. I turned around and was surprised to see both Nero and Ellis with tears in their eyes. Nero had his face buried in his hands, and Ellis was comforting him, a tissue clenched in her fist and her own eyes dripping tears.
I realized then how fortunate I was to have them. Even though I may be surrounded by spiders, I knew that I would always be able to trust Garrett, Nero, and Ellis.
In many ways, I was unlucky, but when it came to siblings, I was the luckiest chimera in the world.
CHAPTER 64
The hole in King Silas’s skull reminded me of a missing puzzle piece. It was a perfect section in the shape of a rectangle, and underneath the scalp and the white skull we could see the pink exposed brain.
Everything that made-up King Silas was inside of that wrinkled pink mass. It was a fact that we all learned during our very first biology lessons, yet when you’re face-to-face with the actual brain, the super computer of humanity… it was humbling to say the least. But the fact that I was looking at a brain that was almost two hundred years old, that had regenerated itself many times and many more times to come, it was downright baffling.
“Pulser?”
Perish placed in my hand a small silver rod with a wire coming off of it. The surgery room that we were in was quiet enough that I could hear the hums of all the electronics, but this particular one, had such a low pulse that even my chimera hearing couldn’t pick it up.
It was Perish’s newest invention. He called it a pulser, a device that emitted both electricity and sestic radiation. In theory, it would be able to stimulate a piece of Silas’s brain into regenerating.
Perish, who was standing by Silas’s head, leaned down with a scalpel in hand and gingerly sliced off a piece of Silas’s brain. Before the slice of brain was even completely severed, I touched the tip of the silver rod to the chunk of pink and held it there.
Then I rose and walked to a waiting microscope and sat down in front of it. I slid the brain tissue under the lens and adjusted the focus.
The pink mass looked all the more tangled and snared under the magnification. It was the colour of cotton candy, with bits of white and dark blue thrown in, and past that, the shadow of the pulser as it stimulated the piece with its low charge.
I watched it for activity, any activity. Something had to move, something had to change, just give me some fucking sign that this theory was correct… that at least we know how the brain jumpstarts itself to ignite healing.
Behind me, Perish approached. I continued to look through the lens, willing the shred of tissue to change right in front of my eyes.
Then I saw a blur of flesh colour and the light of the microscope was interrupted. I removed my eyes from the lens and snapped at Perish, “Remove your damn hand!”
“Be quiet,” Perish said sharply bac
k. He kneeled down and his eyes closed, his hand still hovering over the shred of tissue.
I stared at him, unsure of just what he was doing at first, but he was the born immortal, not me, so I decided to be patient, and I waited.
Perish’s eyes opened and he sighed and shook his head. “No heat,” he said quietly. “It didn’t work. I’ll… keep working on the pulser.”
Not only did my heart crush from disappointment, but the blood that leaked from it was thick with panic. Another failure, and now we were set back weeks, if not a month.
Which meant the anxiety was going to continue to eat me alive. The sleepless nights would carry on, as would the knotted nausea in the pit of my stomach that seemed to never stop gnawing me. I was a feast for it currently, a fattened pig who had gotten complacent on a steady feed of control and affection, and because of that, I could no longer run.
We were only getting older and…
I swallowed the knot in my stomach and rose, leaving the piece of brain matter and the pulser underneath the microscope.
… and it had already been too late for Finn.
I turned back to Silas, lying on that cold surgery table, and stared down at the pink brain.
I had the king of the world begging me, Perish, Sacario, and Mantis to find a way to make his first gen immortal, but yet the brain that allowed him to speak such things, to feel such desperation, mocked me with its lack of information.
We had tried so many things. Hell, there was even a stroke of madness where we cut the brain right down the middle to see if we could make two Silas’s. It didn’t work, even with the cerebral cortex split in half only one part of the brain regenerated. We had taken out Silas’s cerebral cortex for a brief spell to watch it regenerate, but Perish’s neuroticism had us putting it back since apparently you only had a finite amount of time before the rest of Silas became unviable, and if that happened, Silas could take over six months to fully regenerate.
I did make a note of this fact, it may be useful for me at a later date. But right now, my thoughts weren’t on finding out new ways to manipulate Silas or gain further power… I needed to figure out a way to make us immortal.
I couldn’t lose another person I loved.
I couldn’t handle it… Finn’s death had crushed me, and Ivan’s parting words had driven me into a state of self-aware insanity.
I was amongst spiders.
Two months ago, I had learned… I was amongst spiders.
And what had happened in those two months? My pathetic self had given in to desperation and loneliness and now Julian was living with me. I couldn’t even look at Finn’s urn because of that fact. I was so ashamed of myself, of my weakness, it made me sick.
Silas loved it however, and perhaps his joy over having Julian and I become partners had helped me fend off my feelings for him. That alone was difficult, Silas was in a state of euphoria right now, and he was treating all of us like gold.
But it wasn’t only because of me giving in and allowing Julian to move in, it was because there was a new child sleeping inside of his steel mother. A little Sky clone, who had recently graduated from an embryo to a fetus, named Keaton.
Silas had been venturing to Kreig every week to visit the baby, and Kratz was enjoying a bonus large enough for him to buy his own house on Sebastian Road. He was still seeing Garrett, their relationship stronger than ever, and it was routine for Garrett to go with Silas to Kreig, so they could have their personal time.
I didn’t really have time to enjoy the family being at their best… I was still heavy in mourning for my sengil, and weighted down with guilt that I now slept next to a man my Finn had despised.
But I knew Finn would understand… I couldn’t let my feelings for Silas grow, and even now it was difficult for me to deny that that was happening.
“We’ll find a way, Eli,” Sacario said behind me. We were all exhausted and sitting in the canteen area of the laboratory. We’d just finished sewing Silas up and were eating pizza and brownies around a small chunk of Silas’s brain. “God, you’re so tense. Jesus Christ, Elish… you’re going to give yourself another heart attack.”
I shook my head and stared at my food. I wasn’t hungry, but I had been bad at eating, almost as bad as I’d been at sleeping, so I was trying to force myself to eat. “I know,” I said, and this brought a look of wonder and confusion to the face of my life-long friend. He wasn’t expecting me to admit it. “But I’ll find a way.”
I just wasn’t working hard enough. I needed more time spent in the lab.
But I couldn’t keep myself here all the time… I had other mysteries I needed to solve.
“How long is it going to take to re-make the pulser?” Mantis asked Perish. I was thankful towards Mantis for changing the conversation. I didn’t really feel like speaking right now.
However, the conversation didn’t continue. Instead of answering Mantis, there was only silence.
I looked over at Perish and saw that he was staring down at his piece of pizza with a troubled look on his face.
And not only that, his eyes were flickering back and forth like he was trying to read something, but all that was in front of him was a slice of meat lovers pizza.
“Perish,” I said. I raised a hand and placed it on his shoulder. Sometimes after these surgeries he got overwhelmed. “Would you like me to take you to your room?” I wouldn’t mind the quiet either.
The room went silent. Perish didn’t answer for a moment, he only continued to stare blankly at the food.
His mind must be having trouble. We were all used to that happening, it was even worse during long surgeries like this when he got tired.
Mantis and Sacario looked at me for direction. I held a finger to my lips for silence, and kept my hand on Perish’s shoulder. It was best not to speak to him during this time, noise seemed to confuse him.
Then, after a full minute of silence, Perish’s head suddenly jerked up, and to my surprise, he made eye contact with me.
I looked back, and the bottom dropped out of me.
I knew that look. This was no ordinary brain skip…
This was…
After all this time?
“It was in my head, but it was removed,” Perish suddenly spoke. His words were coming slowly, as if they had to clear an obstacle course in order to find his tongue. “I need to…” His brow scrunched and his eyes suddenly shut.
And then… he said it:
“Elish, fix it.”
Oh, fuck.
It’s back.
He’s back.
“Fix what, Perish?” Sacario suddenly piped. And just like that, Perish’s eyes opened, and the unfocused glint returned.
My temper exploded and I banged on the table with my fist. “I told you a fucking thousand times you mouth-breathing dimwit to let him talk when he recalls things!” I roared at Sacario.
Sacario gave me a dumb look of confusion, then swore. I ground my teeth as he shrunk down and raised both of his hands, palm out. “I’m sorry,” he squeaked. “You can verbally rape me all you want.”
I would later, I would make him bleed through his eyes, but later. I rose and motioned for Perish to rise too. “Come with me, old friend,” I said quietly. Perish nodded and rose, and in silence, I led him to his personal dwelling inside of the laboratory.
I closed the door to the modest two-bedroom apartment, and turned to see Perish sitting down on a grey couch that he owned. Beside Perish was one of his cats, a fat black and white tuxedo he’d named Moose, and when I sat down beside him, I picked up the cat and placed him onto his lap. A weird gesture, but I was grabbing at straws, and hoping the cat would help keep him calm and focused.
“Am I in trouble?” Perish whispered.
I sighed, feeling a surge of both guilt for Perish, and disdain for the man who had made him this way.
“No, you’re not in trouble…” I said. I turned to him, and made direct eye contact. “You said ‘Fix it’, do you remember why you said tha
t?”
Perish’s pale blue eyes stared at me, then they began to flicker right to left as he delved deep into his mind in an attempt to pluck the information I was requesting.
But there was nothing. I wasn’t going to give up though.
“What about… ‘It was in my head but it was removed’?” I repeated. But saying that out loud made my own mind’s gears start turning. “It was in my head but it was removed…” I mumbled back to myself. I looked at him. “Do you mean… what Silas did to you when I was young?”
Perish’s eyes deflected. “No, long before that,” he said.
Then it hit me. My intelligence enhancements scanned over the information given and landed on the bullseye. “Your O.L.S,” I whispered, and my eyes widened as excitement shot through me. “Of course… your O.L.S has been keeping a piece of brain alive. That would provide us with the correct current…” I rose. I had to examine this device. “Perish, where is it?”
Perish was now staring at the floor. Moose the cat settling in with a low purr. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “He did something with it.”
Silas did something to Perish’s O.L.S? Is that what he meant? Well, at least I did know where Sky’s O.L.S was. Silas was fiercely protective of it, but… examining that device could give me insight on just how Sky Fallon made a mortal into an immortal.
He would let me, he had to let me.
“I don’t think he’ll let you…” Perish said quietly, his eyes on his shifting feet. We were in the elevator of Alegria now; I had invited Perish over for dinner tonight. I wanted to give him a calm environment to see if I could get him to recall anything else, a tranquil environment far away from Sacario and all other distractions. “I don’t think you should ask about them.”
“Get in trouble?” I muttered under my breath, my head shaking. I remember who Perish used to be, I remember the formidable man usually covered in dust; the man who had travelled the dead world and who had made world-changing advances in science. Hell, Silas ruled Skyfall, but there was no doubt in my mind that Sky and Perish had created it.