by Tenaya Jayne
Forest jumped up and turned off the music. When she turned back around, Tesla was on the other side of the room, banging her head against the wall.
Panicked, Forest rushed to her, grabbing her by the shoulders. Tesla strained against her mother’s grip and hit her head once more. Forest pulled her away from the wall while she kicked and flailed.
“Stop!” Forest begged her. “Stop!”
She held her close, sinking to the floor, cross-legged. Tesla turned on her and sank her fangs into Forest’s forearm. She yelled in pain and shock as her child attacked her, biting her repeatedly and burning her with her hands.
Forest’s consciousness sank back, as if it crouched in a dark crevice of a tunnel. She held still, her eyes going hollow, as her heart wailed from that desolate place. Her baby, her sweet baby, who she loved more than her own life, who she would do anything for, was hurting her on purpose.
Then Syrus was there. He lifted Tesla off Forest. She didn’t see what he did to calm her. She left the room, moving through the house and out into the garden. She sat on the bench next to the fountain and collapsed into bitter tears. Why? Why? Why? Her heart cried.
She leaned all the way over and looked at the ground. For a long time, she just stared at a rock in the dirt next to her foot. I can’t go on like this…but I have no choice. I can’t, but I have to. I don’t want this to be my reality… What I want is irrelevant.
A hand rubbed her back. “Forest?”
She sat up, wiping her nose and leaned her head against Rahaxeris’ sharp shoulder. “Dad. I’m so glad you’re back. I need your help.”
“What’s wrong?”
She wiped the tears away and sighed. “You’ve got to examine Tesla. She’s not the baby you left. She’s a toddler. She aged about two years in a few minutes in an electrical storm, or something like that. She can’t talk. She tries, really hard, you can see her straining, but just these weird noises come out. And the other day, she took a picked flower and turned it into a machine.”
“What?”
“That’s what Syrus said. He calls it an organic machine. The flower blooms, withers, dies, and then starts over and blooms again. I’ll show you, but please, please help her.”
“I will do everything I can. There’s some tests I can run on her. It won’t hurt her, don’t worry.”
Forest exhaled heavily and smiled. “I know you wouldn’t hurt her.”
He stood, held out his hands, and pulled her to her feet. Worry creased his brow as he looked at her straight on. “You’re exhausted. You should go lay down for a while. I assume Syrus is inside?”
“Yeah, he’s here.”
“Good. You go take a nap. We can handle Tesla.”
She hugged him. “Thanks, Dad.”
****
Rahaxeris watched from the doorway of the nursery, keeping his exterior cool and collected while his mind reeled seeing his granddaughter. Syrus looked at him from the rocking chair, Tesla in his lap.
“Where is Forest?”
“She’s lying down.”
Rahaxeris came into the room. Tesla looked at him and smiled. She wiggled to get down. He leaned over as she came to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Hello, my pretty girl. I missed you. Did you miss me?”
She nodded.
“You’ve grown a whole bunch since I left. A little too much, I’d say.”
The child looked directly into his eyes, unflinching and pointed. He raised his eyebrows. She was certainly trying to convey something without words. Her pupils dilated, opening like a door, beckoning him to come in. There was a level of consciousness far beyond that of a normal two-year-old behind her grey eyes. It was as if she was trying to force him to understand. He caught something of it.
“You’re in a hurry to get older?”
She nodded again.
“You made it happen?”
She smiled.
“I need to see this flower Forest mentioned.”
Syrus left the room for a second, and then returned, the flower in his hand. Rahaxeris shifted Tesla to his hip and looked down at it. He watched it go through one whole life cycle, a deep frown on his face.
Rahaxeris looked at Syrus. “I need to take her to Kyhael, if it’s all right with you. Forest’s already agreed that I can test her. I don’t want to disturb her again if she’s asleep.”
“I’m coming with you. I’ll stay out of your way, or I’ll help, whatever you need. I’ll just leave Forest a note in case she wakes.”
“Good.” Rahaxeris smiled at Tesla. “Let’s go play at Grandpa’s workshop.”
He opened a portal for them straight into Rune-dy headquarters. As soon as the portal closed, Tesla went rigid in Rahaxeris’ arms. Her eyes widened, and her hair stood on end. She seemed caught in a state of apprehension.
Rahaxeris set her on her feet. For a moment, she didn’t budge an inch. Then very slowly, she began to look around the main room.
“What now?” Syrus asked.
“Let’s just watch what she does first. See what interests her. This place holds so many forces and magic. What is going to attract or repel her?”
“She’s moving so slowly.”
“I think she can perceive things we cannot.”
Tesla walked over to one side of the room, looking intently at the floor. She touched the Bellis stone with one fingertip. A snake of red electricity absorbed into the pores of the stone from her finger. A flicker, then the transparent image of Hezeron appeared on the floor, where he’d died. Hezeron didn’t resemble a ghost, but a molecular map of his biometrics in red light. Another flicker, and he grew more transparent layers like a Da Vinci anatomy sketch.
Tesla pulled her finger back from the floor, and the image of Hezeron vanished. She looked up at her father and grandfather watching. She curled her hands and winced. She held her hands out to Rahaxeris, beginning to cry out in pain. The red crisscrossed on her hands, the light throbbing in time with her pulse.
He took her hands and pulled the excess magic from her. She quieted.
Tesla moved about the space more freely. She touched the walls as she walked. Momentary images sprang out of the walls everywhere she touched. When she came to the open door of the laboratory where Menjel used to operate, experiment, and torture, she cringed away from it and began shaking.
Rahaxeris closed the door. What could she see? What did she feel in that horrid room? Rahaxeris felt a chill every time he went in there, but nothing else. He could dig deeper into the spiritual level in there, but he chose not to. He’d witnessed the evil committed there in real time, in flesh and blood.
She moved on down the hall and took a turn toward Rahaxeris’ personal quarters. She pointed up at the beam of light coming through the wall. He lifted her up so she could touch it. She smiled as the light began to grow. The three of them went through the light into the room beyond.
Very few people had ever been in here. Rahaxeris was slightly self-conscious. His memories were stored in the stone walls. Tesla would obviously have no trouble accessing them. That prospect was not acceptable to him. Maybe she wouldn’t comprehend the adult nature of his memories, but he wasn’t all right with his son-in-law seeing them. Just a bit too awkward and inappropriate.
He was about to suggest they go look at another space, when Tesla zeroed in on a very particular place on the wall. Rahaxeris was both frightened and amazed. She walked straight to the place he’d hidden the tesseract. Like the light beam, it was too high for her to reach. Again she pointed at the seemingly blank space of rock wall.
He shook his head. “That’s not for you, sweetheart.”
Her cheeks flushed in what was obvious temper and pointed again.
“No. I’m sorry. You can’t have that.”
“What is she pointing at?” Syrus asked.
Before he could answer, a terrible cracking noise split the air. Tesla’s hands lit up. Orbs of energy stretched out over her hands like ball lightning. She placed bot
h of her hands over her heart. The whole room was engulfed in an electrical storm. Her little body lifted off the ground. A red lightning wall held them away from her. Syrus grabbed the electricity in his hand, twisted, and pulled it down.
Another deafening crack sounded as the storm fizzled out, leaving behind thick smoke. Tesla crashed to the floor, unconscious.
Syrus lifted her up and held her. He looked desperately at Rahaxeris. “How do we stop this?”
Rahaxeris gazed at his now six-year-old granddaughter. “I don’t think we can. She knew what she was doing. She did it to herself.”
“You don’t know that!”
“I know what I—“
Tesla coughed and opened her eyes. She pushed against her father’s hold and stood up, smiling smugly and triumphantly at them.
Rahaxeris touched the top of the opposite wall, its surface rippling and turning reflective like a mirror. She walked over to it and looked at herself, running her fingers through her now waist-long hair. Her clothes were tattered and scorched from her transformation. Rahaxeris dug into his closet and gave her one of his shirts. She pulled it over her head. The tunic looked like a shapeless knee-length dress on her.
She looked at them and opened her mouth, but again only strange, strangled noises came out. She strained and coughed, growing upset. Her attention settled on her father. Silent tears ran slowly down his face. Her emotions changed at the sight of his. She went to him, her face crumpling as though she too were going to cry. He picked her up. She touched his face and shook her head, a small hum coming from her throat. She smiled and rested her forehead against his.
“She’s trying to comfort you.”
Syrus sighed, trying to let go of everything he felt at that moment. It was all just too overwhelming.
Tesla looked back at her grandfather and again, she pointed at the wall.
“Okay, Tesla,” Rahaxeris said. “Hold on. I understand you want the cube. But it’s too important. I can’t let you have it.”
She bared her teeth at him. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and exchanged a look with Syrus. “She certainly has a temper.”
Syrus smirked. “She gets that from her mother… We have to help her communicate.”
Rahaxeris drummed his finger against his lips. “I need to give her a physical examination. Let’s go to my lab.”
Tesla sat still on the table in the center of the sterile room while her grandfather poked and prodded at her. He focused predominately on her hands, the red light flower shape around her heart, and her throat. She cried out when he drew a small amount of her blood, but she submitted to it once he explained why he needed to jab her with a needle.
He put her blood under his scope. On the cellular level, the effects and damage of the Malachi Serum she’d received in utero were obvious. Despite the fact that she was chronologically only five months old, Tesla’s blood reflected her uncanny aging. It was, indeed, the blood of a six-year-old.
He put her through a series of cognitive tests. Her intelligence was off the charts. It unnerved him. She unnerved him. Her desire to get the cube unnerved him most of all. How did she know it was there? Why did she want it?
Syrus waited in the corner of the room, his back against the wall, watching the whole thing intently. His stress showed all over his body language and hung heavy in his eyes.
Rahaxeris gave her a book on sign language to look at. She eagerly put her nose in it, her eyes racing over the pages.
“So?” Syrus asked.
“There’s nothing wrong with her throat, or her vocal chords. She’s a genius. But unfortunately, there’s a disconnect or disruption in her brain that prevents her from forming words aloud. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t think clearly what she wants to say. She should be able to communicate through sign language and writing. Perhaps, one day she might be able to speak, who knows… She’s healthy, aside from the obvious.”
He looked over at his daughter. “Is she really reading?”
“I would say so.”
“But she hasn’t been taught.”
Rahaxeris shrugged. “She didn’t need to be taught, she’s hyperlexic. She just knows.”
Syrus rubbed his hands over his face. “This is unbelievable,” he said more to himself.
“Remember,” Rahaxeris warned. “There’s nothing wrong with her hearing. Just because she might be silent, doesn’t mean she doesn’t understand. Be careful what you say.”
He exhaled raggedly. “Forest is going to take this really hard.”
Rahaxeris clapped him bracingly on the shoulder. “We have to do all we can to help her through this.”
Syrus nodded, and he focused his eyes back on Tesla. “What was she trying to get in your room?”
“The key to protecting Regia from the wizards.”
Rahaxeris was anxious when they took Tesla home. Concerned how Forest was going to cope with her child now being six, a genius, and a mute. He kept Tesla out in the garden while Syrus went into the house to talk to her.
Tesla sat on the bench next to him, still reading the sign language book. She set it down and began to practice. His heart plummeted instantly as he saw a complication he’d not yet considered. The magic had pooled in her hands again, causing too much pain for her to sign well. She made a frustrated sound and clenched her hands. Then she stretched her fingers out and tried again. Her hands and forearms shook with the effort as she formed a few basic movements.
She held her hands out to him. He pulled the excess out, easing the pain. She sighed and tried again.
Grandpa, she spelled out.
“Good!” he exclaimed, smiling.
She pointed at the house and signed, Mom, Dad.
He nodded and even though he didn’t need to, he signed, I love you, Tesla. Your mom and dad love you. You’re special. They are confused. They need time to learn how to be your parents. You must be patient with them.
She nodded. What did you think of the flower?
“I was impressed. How did you do that?”
Can’t explain. You wouldn’t understand.
“Do you think your father understands?”
A little. His power, my power. Same. Mine goes deeper. She looked at him speculatively. Your power is great. Sharp. I like your place. So much there.
“You mean in Kyhael?”
Yes. Can I go back soon? Just you and me? Want to show you things I can do. Don’t like the sad way Dad looks at me. Don’t want to scare him.
“Maybe tomorrow. I’ll ask your mom.”
She looked back at the house and flexed her hands, they were getting fatigued and achy.
They are sad I am not still a baby.
“Yes,” he admitted. “I am, too.”
Too many things to do. Danger comes. Baby hands, clumsy.
The front door opened. Forest and Syrus stood on the threshold. He had his arm wrapped supportively around her. Her face was white as she looked at Tesla, and she quickly dashed a tear off her cheek. She rallied immediately and smiled at her daughter.
Tesla looked back up at Rahaxeris. He smiled and patted her shoulder. “Be kind to your mother. She needs tenderness from you, just as you need it from her. Remember, have patience with them. They’re learning. I’ll come see you again tomorrow.”
She nodded, picked up the sign language book, and walked into the house. Rahaxeris sighed and left with a heavy heart. It had been a most unusual afternoon, giving him an abundance of things to ponder. He sent himself to the Onyx Castle to talk to Merhl and set a meeting time with everyone working on the wizard problem. Now that he had the cube, the time had come to form a real plan. He thought about Tesla, would she be a part of the solution?
Chapter Twelve
There was no substance to the world. It flattened out like a picture. A representation of something real, but nothing more. Shreve wanted to go numb. He’d been numb plenty in his life. The harder he desired it, the more acute his feelings became. He was a three-dimensional being walking throug
h a two-dimensional world. Was there even still a point to the remains of his life? Sabra hated him. Was it possible to still help her without her knowing it?
He walked slowly, directionless, looking at the moon where it peeked through the branches of the trees. It had been four days. She hadn’t come back. And she wouldn’t. Four days of bitter desolation, remembering the sweet impossible in the days before. She wouldn’t come back, he told himself again. There was no sense to the hope that still lived inside him. The hope was a relentless sting, and he began to consider it his most formidable enemy. He longed for it to die.
He crossed his arms and continued walking. He was still in the Wolf’s Wood. The hope pushed him to venture out back to where Sabra had come to him before. He fought against the urge.
A twig broke to his left.
His eyes snapped up and onto a familiar face.
“You!” Redge yelled. Shock, fear, and rage all traveled over his features in one second.
Sword drawn, he charged at Shreve. Shreve didn’t have the energy to care. He faced Redge, his hands open. He remembered Redge well. He was no fool, and because of that, he struck while he could. Shreve didn’t fault him as his broad sword slid straight into his core.
Blood rose up Shreve’s throat, and the usual pain of such a wound shivered out and through his body. Shreve grabbed Redge’s shoulder and pushed him backward. He sighed as the sword left his body. His wizard blood instantly began rebuilding his torn flesh.
Redge swung his sword, this time at his neck. He didn’t flinch. The blade stopped short, giving the side of his neck a little nick.
“Don’t move, Shreve,” Redge ordered.
Shreve held his hands up again. “Sure. I’m not going anywhere. By the way, a strike to my torso isn’t going to be enough to kill me. If you decide you’re going to finish me, after all, you’d better cut off my head.”
Redge narrowed his eyes. “You ran away? Copernicus thought you were dead.”
“I had enough. It wasn’t my fight. I didn’t believe in it. Copernicus was insane.”
“But he was your father.”
“No. The only father I can claim is Rahaxeris. And that claim is a bit weak…Copernicus was created by Rahaxeris. I’m a clone, created by the wizards.”