by Rin Chupeco
“It’s all my fault,” I heard the other girl—Odessa?—cry out. “I refused the last galla, Lan. I refused it and rejected all the other gifts, and now it—it’s coming for me. . . .”
That didn’t sound good. I scrambled back. “Get ready,” I told Arjun, trying not to let the fear show in my voice. “Something’s coming.”
To his credit, Arjun spared only a glance for the Abyss, and then righted his Howler. “You think?”
“It’s my fault,” I wept. Already my shadows had turned traitor, melting back into the Abyss—no doubt to join their inhuman brethren ascending from the hole.
“What’s done is done.” By all accounts, Lan should hate me. I had betrayed her, had nearly given her up. My one saving grace was to spare her from entering the mist that had massacred her rangers. She was here solely because I was, and I wanted to cry all over again. “We need to get away from here, Odessa.”
I saw more figures swimming in through the mist, and spotted Janella making her way toward us. The Firesmoker stopped when she saw Lan. “What’s she doing here?” she demanded.
“I want her to stay,” I told her, gathering as much calm about me as I could. “Where are the others?”
Janella shook her head. “All this fog. I couldn’t find them.” She blinked. “Is there another you at the other side of the chasm?”
“My twin.” I felt . . . shocked. Stunned. Happy. My sister was alive. My sister was alive!
“There’s no time, then,” Janella said calmly. “You must accept the final galla’s offering, Odessa. Inanna will accept you as the sole ruler of Aeon. Only then will she claim the other false goddess for sacrifice.”
No. We stared at her—at mousy Janella, with her scarlet robes and her bright knowledge and her eager devotion. “How did you know about the galla and the rituals?” I whispered.
“Accept the galla’s gifts, Odessa. Assume your place as the next goddess of Aeon, and your mother’s true heir.”
“Asteria sent you, didn’t she?” Lan said slowly, staring at the clerk. “Asteria knew Odessa would sneak onto the Brevity. My role here was not to help lead the expedition, but to protect her—it was you she sent to broker a pact with these galla.”
“Salleemae said it before she died,” I breathed, understanding coming in waves. “She said something strange—wondered about someone who’d promised to look out for her left. I thought they were the ramblings of a dying woman—but you stood to her left when we fought those demon birds, didn’t you? You let her die. Just like you let Graham die.”
Janella shrugged. “There’s no point in keeping it a secret anymore. Graham threatened the whole mission—he was always a coward at heart. To save his life, he thought to sacrifice yours and leave. I had to push him, and counted on your mercy to save me.”
“But what did Salleemae ever do to you?”
“She said something,” Lan said unexpectedly. “Salleemae approached me once. ‘What she said about Cathei, milady. It wasn’t right.’ I thought she was referring to Odessa, but she was referring to you. Somehow Cathei had discovered you weren’t who you said you were, and Salleemae caught on to that.” Her eyes widened. “The ship. Cathei approached me once, puzzled, asking about the Brevity’s rigging. She thought there was something wrong with it.”
Janella laughed. “I damaged the ship and hoped it would be blamed on our descent to the lakes. I knew she tried to tell you. The unexpected attack by those shadows was a blessing. Easy enough to loiter at the back of the camp and drag her away, then pretend some supernatural force had done it.”
“You took a great risk.”
“I was put on this mission to take risks. I read your report, Tianlan. Something similar happened to your team last time, and I knew you wouldn’t question it happening again.”
“What are you people going on about?” I heard the boy accompanying my twin yell out at us.
“And Salleemae?” I demanded.
“I knew Cathei had told her. I overheard them talking. Salleemae just wasn’t smart enough to figure out how to use it against me before I got my hands on her.”
“But why?” Noelle cried out. “Why would you do this?”
“My goal was for you to reach the Abyss. Damaging the ship ensured that Gracea’s plan to bring you back to Aranth would fail even if we found another riverwind back. Cathei and Salleemae were collateral damage. Graham . . .” She grinned. “Graham was just a sweet bonus.”
“You’ve been posing as the shy, insipid clerk all this time,” Lan accused.
“I was Asteria’s spy. She knew the galla would come. She hoped that the previous gifts would change you enough that you would be willing to overcome what the last asks of you.”
“The seventh galla asked me to sacrifice Lan,” I said dully. It was Lan’s turn to freeze. “Mother really expected me to give her up?”
Janella shrugged again. “It was the best outcome for everyone involved. She needed heirs, and Lan would not be the person to give you any. You would mourn her loss, of course, but in time, you would move on.”
My fists clenched. “She knew about my trysts with Lan. She appointed her my guard to encourage our relationship, rather than try to hinder it. But she never thought I was as serious about Lan as she was about me, right?” Soft-spoken Janella, gentle Janella. Janella, shrinking away from Gracea’s abuse, her helplessness—all an act.
The Firesmoker shrugged again. “She knew Lan was serious, and she knew you had refused. I suppose she thought your feelings weren’t as strong.”
“Why tell me now?”
“Asteria took a risk, and misjudged your affection for Lan. You won’t accept the seventh gift—not like this, anyway. And besides.” She extended her hand, fire brewing at its center. “This was unexpected. I felt that I owed you something. I’ve had to pretend to simper and fawn over Gracea for years. The temptation to slit her throat was great, but I had little choice. It was my job.” She smiled. “But to wield Fire? Oh, Odessa. This is the best reward you could ever bestow upon me, and I shall always love you for it. I thought it fair that you learn the truth in exchange. Unlike Gracea and her ilk, I am truly devoted to both you and your mother.”
“If you ask me to give up Lan, then you are no friend of mine.”
“If you refuse Inanna’s shadow, then she might claim you both.”
She broke off when another inhuman cry sang through the air, sounding closer this time. “What was that?” Noelle demanded.
“Something’s coming out of the Abyss,” Lan said tersely.
Janella laughed. “You’d best get ready then, and make your decision quickly. It’s here.”
A claw rose out from the darkness and landed on the ground nearby, and we all scrambled back as one. The creature that slowly pulled itself up from that Abyss was an unfinished abstract; it was a mass of twisted contours and a tangle of limbs, like it wasn’t done forming itself into a shape meant for human eyes just yet.
With horror, I realized why; all the other galla that I had once controlled were attaching and melding gradually into its form, resulting in a larger, more grotesque creature with each fusion. The monster’s features warped, twisted, and then reassembled themselves. The figure of a woman now stared back at me; its eyes glowed and the shadows of its hair moved and slithered like live snakes. It wore a strange crown upon its brow, crafted from the blue stones I had long grown familiar with. But now that it had taken on a face, its expression was strangely benevolent as it turned to me.
Was this Inanna’s spirit?
“It’s her,” Lan whispered.
Odessa, it crooned. We are one. We sleep with our loves in the houses Below. We are purpose; our rewards, sublime. Help us find peace, Odessa. Accept our gifts. There will be no suffering. You are welcomed here.
Despite my fear, I had no recollection of taking a step forward until I felt Lan’s arms around me, dragging me back. “No! They’ll kill you!”
“But I—” I looked down, straight into the
Abyss. Another step and I would have gone right over the edge.
A sudden burst of fire from behind the demon took out its shoulder. The monster hissed, the darkened flesh re-forming on its own, sinew and meat and skin flexing together until not a scar remained. The boy on the other side of the ravine had aimed his weapon at it, smoke steaming out from one end. The other girl with him—the one who looked so painfully like me—had cupped her hands around her mouth and was shouting something at us.
But for some reason, the possibility that I was the one to be sacrificed comforted me. Had the world collapsed because it was I who was meant to die? If I accepted this creature-goddess’s hand, would it right the world, return it to the way it once was? After all the mistakes I had made, wasn’t this the best course of action, the ultimate penance for my sins? I moved forward again, but Lan was too strong.
“If you think I’m going to let you do that,” she yelled in my ear, “then you never knew me at all!”
The shadow-ghoul had already turned, a new target in mind. It clawed through the air toward the other girl and the boy, who showed no signs of fleeing. The girl raised her hands and sent a torrent of fire toward the creature, bravely standing her ground.
Another barrage of ice stopped the demon in its tracks, as I brutally punched a hole through what should be its sternum. It wheeled about, now forced to wage a battle from both sides.
“I will refuse her, and she will claim nothing from me,” I said through gritted teeth. “Mother rejected her before. Surely there must be another way to do so again without causing another Breaking.”
“We are so damn screwed,” Arjun said, staring at the hideous creature making its way toward us.
“You’re an optimist, you know that?” The people on the other side of the chasm appeared to be immersed in some argument among themselves, momentarily forgetting the demon in the space between our camps, or that it was angling for us. “You remember seeing anything in Brighthenge about repelling monsters like these?”
“I was too busy chasing after you when you’d lost your mind.”
“I didn’t lose my—! Look, this is not the time to be arguing—”
Shards of ice left a gaping hole in the center of the woman-creature’s stomach, and they weren’t from me. The other girl sent another flurry of sharp knives into the monster’s head, catching it exactly in the center of the forehead and taking out some of the blue stones there. Black steam rose from the demon, and for the first time I saw it wavering.
“Take out all its jewels!” the girl yelled out at us.
That was easier said than done, because the monster’s head was practically covered in them. But we redoubled our efforts all the same.
Desperately, we waged a two-pronged battle from either side, trying to break down the demon’s strength before it could sap us of our own. The other goddess sent more patterns its way, ripping through the stones on its crown, while the red-haired girl had traded in her spear for a bow and fired arrows at the monster, though they served more to distract than to actually wound. The Catseye had her hand on the goddess’s shoulder, and from her shining eyes I knew she was wiping away the other girl’s fatigue. I wished there was someone on our side to do the same.
It was Arjun who finally delivered the killing blow; he’d built the patterns inside his Howler to another frenzy, and I knew from the waves of heat off the barrel alone that this was his most powerful shot yet. “You’d better stay away,” he muttered, wincing, “because I’m not holding back this time.”
I didn’t even bother with a quip; I ducked out of the way as soon as he squinted through the sights.
The biggest ball of blue flame I’d ever seen, practically the size of the demoness’s jeweled head, sang out from his rifle. Arjun’s aim was impeccable; his shot blew out everything atop the creature’s neck, and the now-headless monster toppled wordlessly back down into the Abyss it had crawled up from. With relief, I watched its form disappear into the seething mass of that black hole.
But it was Arjun’s turn to waver, and I just managed to catch him before he could stumble forward into the chasm himself. “You idiot,” I muttered, but with none of my usual annoyance. He was beyond exhausted, but his steady heartbeat told me he was going to be all right.
He grinned weakly. “The things I do for love.”
With the enemy gone, I turned to the other side—and found the other girl staring at me again.
Her hair had the same impossible colors and fluctuations. I watched as they turned an opaque silver, then red, then blue, and knew instinctively that my own hair was involuntarily matching hers in hue. Her face was the same one I’d seen in my mirror countless times; pale eyes and a small mouth, her skin perhaps a few shades lighter than mine; a testament no doubt to the colder climate she lived in. She wore long robes that nearly hid her form, and I wore a worker’s outfit and the muddy boots to match, but the aesthetics of our clothes didn’t matter.
My twin. This was my twin. Odessa: the daughter my mother had hidden for so long.
“Odessa.” I called her name across the chasm, wanting to be sure that she was real, and not some mirage of a dead sister back to taunt me.
The response came, soft and clear. “Haidee.”
“How do we make it across?” one of her companions called out. “There’s nothing here to help bridge this gap.”
“I’m not sure I want to walk across that hellish Abyss, Noelle,” the Catseye said tartly. “Where did Janella go?”
The other girl in their party was missing. The Catseye swore. “What the hell is she planning now?”
The rest of the conversation flowed around us, mere noises at this point. A sudden burst of longing rose within me. I reached out a hand toward her, knowing that it was a futile gesture.
Almost at the same time, her own hand rose, as if straining to meet mine.
And then, as one, the whole world shifted.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Twins of the Breaking
EVEN DYING, THE WORLD HEARD us, and responded.
A great heaving ricocheted through the ground, the growing tremors felt by every mountain and surviving treetop, from the clanking and whirring towers of the Golden City to the raging storms and seas that savaged Aranth. Something heavier than air and stronger than lightning lanced between me and my twin; light crackled between our outstretched fingers, validating and confirming something we never knew, and yet must have known all along.
And between us the gaping stretch of the chasm, impassable and treacherous and untenable, did the impossible.
With a heavy shudder the world performed a miracle, and the ground lurched underneath our feet. The heavy rock twisted forward, pebbles crumbling over the edges, but we both stood secure, knowing we were safe. The ground heaved again, and then again, each groaning shift propelling the cliffs forward, narrowing the gap of the chasm and propelling us both toward each other, to a point where our hands could meet and I could finally touch my sister for the first time.
My sister.
This was my sister.
I could hear our companions on both sides, the panic in their voices at the onset of this new cataclysm, the fear that this was another Breaking in the process. But I was calm.
My sister was alive.
My sister is alive!
Not every part of the ravine obeyed our thoughts; sections of the Abyss still stood thousands of miles wide, and not even this newfound bond could overcome the realities of nature. But our patch of ground, a hundred feet wide, bowed to our whims and continued that maddening drive forward; inch by reluctant inch it pushed us farther, until we fell into each other’s weeping arms, and could finally feel the truth.
I had a sister!
For a moment, I had a flash of strange sagacity coupled with a peculiar notion of otherness; it was like something inside of me was finally complete upon that first instance of my twin’s touch, like destiny was forcing new prophecies into being, offering a happier fate now t
hat we stood together instead of separately, after seventeen years and more.
We held each other; our emotions gave way to sobs. And in that instant, I was uncertain as to which of us was which goddess.
But even as we clung, I was aware of a strange shadow that rose behind us, a suggestion that the forces Below were not ready to relinquish their hold. We turned as one but were too late to stop the assault, as a large claw came down onto us, over the cries of horror from our companions.
We moved.
It tore through one of our shoulders, and as one we felt and cried out from the pain. But the lightning crackled in our joined hands, and beyond the hurt our fury sparked and burned, even greater than the agony. Inanna sought to divide us. We would not surrender. The Great Below would not take either of us.
The energy we released was an explosion that lit up Aeon, a sound I knew would be heard by all who still lived here. It would send Latona up from her bed, screaming obscenities, and it would send Asteria dashing to her tower window to view this newfound threat to her claim for control. We poured our heart and soul and strength into that spell, gating every element we could reach.
Inanna’s shape contracted and expanded and contracted again, until, with a mighty cry, it collapsed into itself, shadows and dust drifting back into the Abyss, her soul splintered and sent screaming back to the Great Below.
Once the silence descended, we collapsed.
And with a harsh, grating sound, for the first time in seventeen years, the world began to turn.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The Twins in the Aftermath
“I’M FINE,” I SAID, COUGHING weakly as Lan fussed over my wound. I’d taken a heavy swipe of the Shadow-Inanna’s claws; although the Catseye had found my injuries not to be life-threatening, and the healing had been swift and not as painful as I had feared, she would not stop berating me.
“You fool,” she whispered, her beautiful face haggard. “What possessed you to do that? That shadow could have . . . !” She buried her face in my hair, words failing her. “You’re truly going to kill me one of these days,” she finally whispered.