by Frankie Rose
As time passes, Col begins to lead us down, the tunnels burrowing deep into the bedrock of the planet. I keep track of where we go, mentally recording each turn and hairpin, making sure I can find my way out of this maze if the need arises. Eventually, we arrive at Sellarue. It isn’t a town, as I might have expected, but a large cavern that opens out, filled with people. The place is bustling, a market of sorts, packed from end to end with stalls and shops that stretch back into alcoves in the rock that borders the perimeter of the cavern. Col is stared at down here less than I am. Some of the Pirians even know his name and greet him as we wind our way through the madness.
Eyes bounce off me, as if the people know I am something not to be observed. As if even glancing in my direction causes them pain in some way.
At the far end of the bazaar, we enter into a dark alcove filled with polished crystals, shining plates made out of silver and gold, along with lamps that seem to burn without the need of fire or external energy source. A tall, slender woman with tattoo-covered hands greets us with a frightened smile. She rushes to the entrance of her shop and draws a pair of curtains, blocking out the hubbub beyond.
“Ayah,” Col says, greeting her. “This is—”
“I know who he is,” she answers quickly. Her eyes are blacker than coal, too large for her face. Her hair is white like all the other Pirians, braided on top of her head. A shard of bone hangs from a chain on her right ear, fragile and small. It looks like it once belonged to some kind of bird. She narrows her eyes at me, interlocking her hands into a knot of long fingers. “Chancellor Pakka sent word. She said we’re not to even mention his name out loud. As far as anyone on Pirius is meant to know, your friend,” she says, tripping over the word, “is a member of the Commonwealth, here to give aid. People have been talking about his arrival.”
Farren said as much. Smart. Without my Construct uniform, I could be anyone. I am human. I could easily be a Commonwealth fighter like Col, come bringing news and goods to trade. It’s strange that Erika would tell Ayah my true identity and not Farren, though. Ayah clears her throat, standing a little straighter. She’s afraid of me, but not as much as she should be. There’s a strength to her that I admire.
“There’s a problem with your next rendezvous point,” she says quietly. “Erika’s recalled you to her sector. She’s asked that you go there directly.”
I feel the immediate tension that coils in Col’s belly. These rendezvous points have been the only thing keeping him alive thus far. “We weren’t meant to meet in the first sector,” he says, shooting me a cautious glance. “I wasn’t supposed to know our end destination until we arrived.”
Ayah twists the bone dangling from ear. “Your final point of contact got cold feet. He didn’t want him anywhere his family. People are flocking to the second sector from outside the sub city, already looking for accomodations for the eclipse celebrations. He refused to put anyone in danger. There was nothing to be done. Erika chose to respect his wishes.”
I don’t even try to hide my smile. “Looks like you’re surplus to requirement now, Pakka. I can probably find my way to the first sector by myself.”
“You’d do well to stick with your guide,” Ayah says sharply. “There’ll be consequences if he doesn’t make it back to his mother.”
Consequences. The idea that I might suffer for killing Col is laughable. I’m intrigued by the woman’s confidence, though. I look into her mind. Her body tenses, her hand stilling on her earring. She doesn’t fight me, though. She allows me to search through her memories, hunting for the information I require. She even helps, forcing it to the front of her mind.
The girl. Reza’s made a bargain. The safe return of Col, and the safety of everyone else here on Pirius. And in exchange, she won’t resist me. She’ll meet with me, of her own volition. If anyone is injured by my hand, she’ll kill herself and that’ll be the end of it.
“She’s assuming a lot,” I say airily. “Why would she think I value her life so much?”
Ayah smiles, and her teeth are a brilliant white. “Come, Mr. Construct. Let’s not play such silly games.”
******
We’re met at the first sector by another chancellor, this time Col’s own mother. She exudes the calm control of a woman used to power and respect. After embracing Col and cupping his face in her hands, smiling up at him, she turns her smile on me, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “I’m very glad you’re here, Jass. I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you.”
This is far from what I expected. There is no subterfuge to her words. Her sincerity is very real, and I find I’m not really sure what to say back to her. After a moment’s thought, I say the obvious. “I’m sure you’re the only person in the sub city who feels that way, Chancellor Pakka.”
She places a hand on my shoulder, benevolence and kindness shining from her—a golden halo only I can see. “As you know by now, the Pirian people haven’t been able to access their visions, but I have an excellent memory. I saw what was going to happen here before I was blinded to the universe. It made me hopeful. I’ve been looking forward to this day for seven cycles.”
She’s still touching me, her hand burning into me like a hot brand. I would be less uncomfortable right now if she were making threats to my life instead of looking at me like I am her own personal savior. “I’m not sure what you saw, but time must have warped your visions, Chancellor.”
“Please. Call me Erika.”
I slowly incline my head. “I’m here for Reza, Erika. Nothing more. Nothing less. She promised me an audience. She also promised me she’d submit herself to me. The moment I discover she wasn’t true to her word—”
“Reza’s an honest person. She keeps her promises. You’ll recall she also swore she’d take her own life if you didn’t conduct yourself civilly. You have no reason to doubt her.”
She’s right. I don’t. The very first time I saw Reza, she was preoccupied with the messy business of dying. I commanded her not to and she obliged, but I saw the resolve in her eyes. I knew she meant it. Didn’t see it as an act of cowardice. It was an act of bravery on her part, where she took control back from the Construct. She’d definitely do it again.
I don’t like the idea of Reza bleeding out from her wrists. I shove the memory of her lying on the grating, her face a mask of death, out of my head entirely. “You don’t seem to have any issue looking at me, Chancellor. I can’t say the same of everyone else down here.”
“Looking into the eye of a storm takes practice. My people aren’t used to the idea of you, Jass. They sense your otherness, even if they don’t know why or who you are. They don’t know how to decipher the chaos. I’ve had plenty of time to study you inside my own head and in my dreams. Our visions are powerful things.”
“And sometimes wrong, I hear.”
Erika isn’t fazed by my comment. Her composure is unsettling. “Not these visions,” she says confidently. “These visions were indelible. A dye already cast, events simply waiting for their time to come to fruition. You’ll see. You’ll learn.” She beams at me, so self-assured, but I catch the flicker of doubt that twists Col’s features. He doesn’t believe as strongly as his mother, no matter what he said to Farren. He might have done before he met me, but now…
“The only thing I need to learn is when I’ll see the girl,” I reply.
Erika nods. “She knows you’re here. She’s been told she can come to you if she wishes. In the meantime, why don’t you rest?”
THIRTEEN
REZA
A BOY…
My heart’s stumbling around the inside of my chest. I stand on the other side of the door to the ready room, my head bowed, the tips of my fingers numb. I can’t seem to gather myself together. This is important. Erika managed to impress on me how crucial this meeting is. If I don’t manage to make some sort of headway here with Jass, the Construct will arrive in time for the next double eclipse, and they’ll eradicate this outpost. There will be so much death and destruct
ion. Jass will become unstoppable force of evil in the galaxy. And as for me? Erika didn’t say what would happen to me if the Construct showed up at Pirius, but I can imagine. Jass will rise to power and madness. He won’t let them kill me. He’ll harness the energy inside me, and use it to control me. I’ll be his slave, doomed to carry out his bidding, trapped inside my own body, unable to prevent the death that will befall so many worlds. I will kill over and over again, and I’ll be unable to look away.
I hate him.
I fear him.
I must somehow change him.
Col, my friend for the last seven cycles, places a hand on my back, rubbing in small circles. “I don’t know how this is going to play out, Reza. I don’t know if there’s a way to reason with him, let alone a way to win him over. He refused to tell me what he wanted with you. I don’t think he has any plans to enslave you, though.”
Technically, his words should reassure me, but I’m damned if they don’t have the opposite affect entirely. “I can come in with you, if you like?” he offers. “Jass is a caustic bastard, but I’ve kind of gotten used to him over the past few days. There’s a trick to dealing with him. Don’t show him your fear. He’s like a blood horse. If he knows you’re intimidated by him, he’ll discount you right out of hand. If you have nerves of steel and you show him that instead, there’ll be a better chance of him listening to what you have to say to him.”
Listening. Listening to me, not killing me. That sounds like a much better option. Am I capable of achieving what Col is telling me to do, though? Can I set aside this ingrained fear and aversion? Can I hide how terrified I am that the day I’ve dreaded and panicked over for so long has finally arrived, just as I always knew, deep down, that it would? I don’t think I’m that good at pretending.
“Honestly. I really don’t mind coming in with you, if you like.” Col’s kind smile says he means it.
“I’ll be okay. I think. I hope. But if you hear screaming…”
“I’ll be sure to break the door down, weapons blazing.”
“Thank you, Col.” I take a deep breath, hand pressed lightly on the ready room’s access panel. A little more pressure and the door will slide soundlessly open, and I will be faced with one of my worst nightmares. Before I go, I turn and ask Col one last question. “You showed him you weren’t afraid of him. You were alone with him for four days. He could have killed you at any point with nothing more than a thought, and you didn’t falter. How did you do it? How were you able to overcome your fear?”
Col lets out a loud, bold laugh, his head rocking back, the muscles in his throat working. His blue eyes, completely contrasting with the dark, almost black eyes of the seers and their people, shining brightly.
“I didn’t, Reza. I didn’t at all. But somehow I managed to pull the wool over his eyes. The truth is I was shitting myself the entire time.”
******
A boy…
No, a man sits in a chair. He’s alone. His mop of dark hair waves wildly all over the place, thick and untamable. His eyes are dark, too. Dark brown, like molten chocolate, flecked with gold and caramel. Warm. Alive. Very intense. Beneath his eyes: a long, arrow-straight nose, and full lips that are pressed together. His cheekbones are high. Higher than they normally would be on a boy, but they somehow suit him. His face is all angles—severe, and yet soft at the same time. I expected to be shot through with the urgent need to run when I first laid eyes on him, and yet I’m struck by how normal he looks. He is, for all intents and purposes, just a man. I’ve seen him before, back on the Invictus, but in brief snatches. No more than a few seconds here and a few seconds there. When I look at him now, I know his face intimately, way better than I ought to. It’s as if I’ve spent hours with him. Days, even. Only, I haven’t.
He straightens in his chair when he sees me, his shoulders pulling back, his chin lifting, a tightness taking hold of him, and I feel it, too. A sort of cord being pulled taut inside me, vibrating like the plucked string of a musical instrument.
“You’re late,” he says stiffly. “They said you’d come and see me two hours ago.”
I retort without thinking. “Sorry. It’s very busy around here. I couldn’t just drop what I was doing and come running.”
Jass’ mouth twitches imperceptibly, but I catch the movement. “You wanted to,” he says slowly. “I could feel it.”
The worrying thing is, I did want to. I’ve been so caught up and confused by what I’ve been feeling over the past couple of days. So many raging emotions all vying to be front and center of attention. It’s been hard to differentiate between them all. I can’t deny it, though. I felt it the moment that apprentice ran into the hall and told us Col had arrived with Jass. I wanted to go to him immediately, like I was rushing to meet an old friend. I wanted to barrel over here, blindly, without a single thought to what might take place, and I have absolutely no idea why. I take a step into the room, my palms sweating at the prospect of actually moving close enough to him to sit down in the chair opposite his. He’s unrestrained. There is no phase-proof glass between us. The only thing protecting me is his word that he won’t harm me, and how far can that be trusted? God, this was so stupid.
“You’re exactly as I remember,” Jass says quietly. “Your hair. Your eyes. Your freckles. That birthmark on your shoulder.” He points to the small mark that indeed sits upon my right shoulder, and I suddenly feel naked. The vest I was training in covers me sufficiently to preserve my modesty, but I’d certainly feel better right now if I were wearing a proper shirt.
“You look nothing like I remember,” I fire back.
His head cocks to one side. Interested. Intrigued. “How so?”
“I seem to recall being terrified of you on that ship. You look fairly harmless to me now, though.”
It’s foolish to tell him he looks harmless. His shoulders are broad, his chest packed with muscle. His hands, resting in front of him on the table’s surface, palm down, are strong and capable. His dark eyes are sharp and focused, studying and assessing. An air of defiance, challenge and confidence issues from him in overwhelming waves that threaten to overcome me. No, he isn’t harmless in the least. He’s still the most dangerous man in the galaxy; I know that just from the way my heart is racing right now. Jass smiles slowly, tapping his index finger against the table. It’s as if he knows something I don’t. “A lot has changed between us since the Invictus.”
“Nothing’s changed,” I volley back. “You’re still the Construct’s plaything. You still hurt people and cause them to suffer. You’re a faceless monster. A night terror. A dark ghost,” I whisper.
Jass’ eyes glitter with some unknown emotion. He shrugs with his right shoulder only. “As you say.”
An intense pressure’s building inside my head. I can’t seem to think straight. It’s as if my skull is pinned in a vice and someone is slowly turning the handle, tightening its grip. I have to speed this process up. I have to get the hell out of here. “I’m sure the Construct’s lost more than one soldier in their time. They can’t want me back badly enough to train their most prized weapon on me.” She huffs, showing her frustration. “Are you trying to claim my energy? Is that it? You’ve gone to all this trouble to find me because you want to drain me until I’m dead?”
Leaning back in his chair, Jass angles his chin, raising it so the overhead light casts dark shadows across the column of his throat. “The Construct leaders think you’re dead. They assumed you were killed in the conflict that broke out after the attack on the Invictus. You wounded Stryker pretty badly. Regardless, you’re inconsequential to them. If they suspected you were alive, they might send out a bounty hunter to collect you. Bring you back to The Nexus to make an example of you. They certainly don’t like their people escaping and making fools of them by any means. But for one, meaningless girl?” He shakes his head. “They forgot all about you, Reza.” My name sounds like a compromise on his tongue. A foreign and uncomfortable thing. An admission of some sort. The way
he says it makes me squirm. “But where the Construct could so easily forget about you, I, on the other hand, could not. Yes, I’m interested in your energy,” he confesses. “I don’t want to drain it from you, though. I’m far more interested in what could be accomplished if we were to combine our energies together, voluntarily.”
A chill runs down my spine, as if an icy hand has just grabbed me by the back of my neck. I don’t believe him. I resisted him back on the Invictus. No one else has ever been able to do that. Or at least no records have been kept of anyone doing so. Jass’ power is undisputed. If he knew someone out there could withstand him, could potentially cause issues for him in the future, of course he would want to destroy that person. Why would he willingly allow me to keep my power, if he thought for a second he could take it?
As if he knows what I’m thinking, Jass begins to laugh. Never in my life have I ever imagined what Jass Beylar would look or sound like when he laughed. It seemed like such an improbable event that the thought never even crossed my mind. “For someone so willing to throw their life away, you seem very afraid of being killed,” he says. “What is it? What suicide pact have you made?” His eyes narrow, and I feel that intense needling pressure in my head again. “Nightcreeper,” he says. “Hmm. I don’t know it. They imbedded the capsule in your back tooth. Makes sense. You can bite down on it if you’re in any danger, way before anyone could dream of stopping you. You see, your mind has high walls, Reza,” he tells me airily. “But I can still get inside, stubborn though you are.”