I regained control of my expression, but didn’t understand what he was saying. “What do you mean?”
He struggled to give me answer. I saw that struggle play out across his face.
Eventually he exhaled loudly. “It’s something I came to realize after what happened on Saturday. I think the Prides are fostering their rivalry upon their Familiars. What happened between Caprice and Constance is an example of that.”
I tilted my head slightly and swallowed heavily. “Caelum, what did happen on Saturday? All the media will say is that there was an incident and that the Prides were making no comment on the matter. Everyone has their own opinions, and it didn’t take long for people to learn who you all were.”
Caelum grimaced and glanced away.
I took a step closer to him. “Caelum, what’s wrong? What’s going on?”
“I can’t tell you.” He saw my protest and quickly added, “No, Haruka, please don’t ask me. Truthfully, I don’t know much myself, and I’m not getting answers from the Lanfears and their supposed to be my guardians.”
He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets, and then glared at the ground between us.
I didn’t like the silence that fell over us. “Caelum, is the school in danger? Are you in danger?”
He snorted and shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not. Right now I can’t do anything about Crescent’s plans for the school. I’m out of the game—that’s all I’ll say, Haruka.”
He looked frustrated. I could see it now and feel it as well.
Something serious had happened on Saturday, and he was bottling in his reaction. But it wasn’t working. He wasn’t coping with it.
I reached out to him, but he stepped back.
The warning look in his eyes, and the subtle shake of his head hurt my feelings more than he probably realized.
“I have to go,” he muttered.
Abruptly, he turned around and began walking out of the garden.
I stood there feeling hurt and stupid for trying to reach out to him – for trying to bridge the gap between us.
I felt foolish for trying to mend our friendship.
Maybe he was right.
Maybe I should butt out and stay safe within my little world.
But I couldn’t do that.
I just couldn’t turn my back on him.
Caelum needed help. He needed someone to support him.
But if it wasn’t me…then who?
#
(Caelum)
After class, I headed to training.
The sublevel gym was empty. Not a single technician in sight.
I guessed Arisa had given them the day off.
It didn’t bother me in the least. I just went about my usual training routine.
What bothered me was not having Caprice around. Training in the gym just wasn’t the same without her.
I had to concentrate hard on my usual exercise routine.
As I trained, I accepted a couple of truths regarding my situation.
The first was that without my Fragment, I felt weaker.
Not just physically but psychologically as well. The Fragment had given me an inner and outer strength that helped me push past my feelings of inadequacy toward the Aventis. With it, I had felt I was their equal if not better, perhaps even larger than life considering how amazing and terrifying the Gauntlet was.
Now I was back to being something between a Regular and an Aventis, and I was having trouble adjusting. Maybe it was like that saying, the taller you stand the harder you can fall.
I felt I’d fallen quite hard.
The second truth I had to acknowledge and live with was my diminished spatial awareness.
It felt considerably smaller and lacked the clarity and scope the Fragment had added to it.
Over the span of the last three months, I had grown accustomed to the Fragment enhancing my Awareness. I could walk into a room and know its size and the placement of all objects within it, including people. I could step out into the street, and be aware of everything within a hundred feet. Perhaps not everything but I was certainly more spatially aware than a Regular human, maybe even more than an Aventis.
Yet surprisingly, I was never overwhelmed by the additional sensory input.
Was my brain somehow ‘altered’ by the Fragment, preventing it from locking up under the extra load?
Was this what Van Demon had referred to when he spoke of our ongoing development as Familiars?
Regardless, I felt incomplete without my Fragment, and wondered if I wasn’t suffering withdrawal symptoms.
I finished training, showered, and changed back into my school uniform but chose not to wear the blazer. My gym clothes needed a wash so I stuffed them into a second bag I kept in my locker. I slung the straps of my school carry-bag over my right shoulder while carrying the gym bag in my left hand.
When I walked out of the small change room, I had a surprise waiting for me.
The Countess was sitting on the worn couch that adorned one long wall of the gym floor.
I felt ambivalent at sight of her. I wasn’t ready to deal with more personal attention. In fact, I didn’t want any.
I walked up to her, and Simone stood up and faced me. She had changed out of her uniform and into casual wear. In summary, her outfit consisted of a short, pleated peach skirt, and matching sleeveless blouse, while on her feet she wore tanned, ankle high boots.
Despondent as I was about my situation, I had to admit she looked good.
No, she looked better than good.
She really was a beautiful girl.
I cleared my throat. “How did you get in here?”
She smiled sheepishly. “Arisa gave me access. I spoke to her, and told her I thought you might want some company.”
“You thought wrong.”
I started walking past her.
“Ara ara, leaving so soon?”
“Sorry Countess. I’m not pleasant company at the moment.”
Her left hand snaked out and caught my left arm. “Please Caelum…can we talk? Even if just a little.”
I stopped in my tracks and I gave her a hard look. “About what?”
She shrugged weakly. “Well, why don’t you tell me how you’re doing?”
“I’m doing just fine. They took my Fragment, nothing else.”
“Ah…yes, you’re right.” She glanced down.
I regarded her for a moment then asked in a low tone, “How’s Caprice?”
The Countess looked up. “She’s healing really quickly. The doctors plan to discharge her tomorrow evening. She’ll be back in class on Wednesday. She’ll need to return to hospital for more checkups but the doctors don’t see complications with her recovery.”
That wasn’t much different from what Arisa’s secretary had told me. Maybe I should be reassured that their stories matched up so well.
I started walking away again. “I see. Thanks for telling me.”
The Countess’s grip on my arm turned to steel.
I tensed sharply. “Let go of my arm, Countess. I won’t ask you again.”
“Ara ara, so you blame me for what happened.”
I frowned at her. “How can you sound so carefree?”
She shook her head. “You misunderstand. I’m not being carefree at all.”
I hesitated for a moment. “Do I blame you? Yes. I blame you for Caprice’s injury. If you hadn’t shown up, Caprice and Constance wouldn’t have had their death match. I wouldn’t have injured Constance, and I wouldn’t have lost my Fragment.”
She released my arm. “Yes…you’re right. I’m sorry. For everything, I’m truly sorry.”
I couldn’t hide my doubts from her. “Are you really? What were you doing there, Countess? Why did you show up in a hurry? As much as I enjoyed the sight of you in wet clothing, in the end the price was too much to pay.” I turned my body to face her fully. “Why did you interfere with Prissila? What were you afraid she would tell me?”
I
watched her face grow blank as she sought to hide her state of mind from me.
The Countess inhaled deeply. “Caelum, I promise, I will have your Fragment returned to you.”
“That’s not an answer, Countess.”
“I know.” She folded her hands over her midriff.
She wasn’t going to give me an answer. I could see that now. Maybe I should approach Prissila and get my answers from her.
While regarding Simone, I asked, “What makes you think they’ll return my Fragment?”
“Because my mother needs you. She needs your strength, and for that, she needs you and your Fragment.”
“Your mother?”
Again she took a deep breath. “Caelum, my mother is the commander of the Special Interventions Division. In other words, she’s in charge of operations that deal with Crimson Crescent within Pharos. However, on occasion she is involved in missions against Crescent that take place outside the colony.”
I couldn’t help but swallow hard at hearing those words. “You’re mother?”
The Countess nodded. “I’m sorry for not telling you before.”
I took a deep breath of my own. “And she needs my help?”
Again, the Countess nodded.
I couldn’t help shrugging in bemusement. “Why? What can I possibly offer her?”
“I told you already. The strength you gain with your Fragment.”
“But to what end?”
“To stop Crimson Crescent. To protect the Prides and the people of Pharos.”
I should have anticipated that answer.
It sounded like a textbook reply.
I took a couple of deep breaths. “Prissila said that I was important to the Prides. She went as far as to call me special. But I don’t feel the Lanfears are treating me in any special way. They’re devoting more time and resources to Caprice than to me.”
The Countess looked uncomfortable. “Yes, it would seem that way.”
“If that’s the case, why did they agree to take me in? Why bother with me at all? Why didn’t the Raynars assume guardianship over me? Everything that’s happened so far makes me wonder if I’m affiliated with the wrong Pride.”
Simone didn’t give me an answer. Instead her gaze searched my face for a long while.
I felt unsettled by her silent scrutiny. “Countess, are you going to tell me why or not?”
She inhaled slowly, then gave me a weak nod. “I will tell you the truth, Caelum. I’ll tell you what Prissila was going to tell you at the amusement park. But first I need to tell you about your family.”
“My family is dead. What more is there to know?”
“Your family is not dead.”
I thought my eyes would pop out when I heard her. “What?”
The Countess swallowed quickly. “Your sister is alive.”
For a long moment I could only stare at her in disbelief. Then I grew angry. Very angry. I dropped the bags I carried and grabbed Simone by her shoulders.
Somehow, by some miracle, I held back from yelling at her.
But shaking her hard was another matter. “That’s a lie. I saw her body. I identified it. The Enforcers showed me the gene scan. I saw her body.”
Simone reached up and gently cupped my face.
“No, Caelum. Celica is alive. Your sister is alive and with Crimson Crescent.”
Chapter 11 – Bloodline.
(Caelum)
I stared at Simone.
My mind had stopped working.
For a long, long while I couldn’t think of anything beyond her last words.
Celica was alive and with Crescent.
It couldn’t be. It had to be a lie. It just had to be!
Simone Alucard was the quintessence of a femme fatale. I couldn’t bring myself to trust her or I was certain to be doomed.
Maybe I was already doomed.
But what if she was telling the truth?
What if Celica was really alive?
How was I supposed to deal with this revelation?
For starters, I had to jump start my mind.
It was Simone’s slap that kicked my brain back in gear.
I grabbed her hand before she could slap me again.
“Simone—stop it. That really hurt.”
“Well you weren’t answering me! Your eyes went blank and I thought you’d slipped into a standing coma.”
“I wasn’t in any coma,” I retorted loudly, and succeeded in lowering both her hands away from my face. Damn she was strong. I had to put real effort into moving her arms.
“Whatever—it scared the Hell out of me.”
Was that concern in her voice, or was I imagining it? No, I didn’t have time to dwell on it.
I swallowed and took a couple of deep breaths. “Simone, I’m fine. Well, maybe not fine but I’m back if that means anything to you.”
She eyed me carefully. “Yes, yes it does.”
I felt her arms relax, but I chose to be vigilant. I still held onto her hands. One slap was enough. My left cheek really burned. My jaw felt a little bruised as well.
Swallowing hard, I asked in a low voice, “Tell me the truth. Don’t lie to me.”
“It’s no lie, Caelum. Celica is alive, and we know she’s with Crimson Crescent.”
I shook my head weakly. “How can that be possible?”
“Because my family kept the truth from you. It was my mother’s decision as Commander of Special Interventions.”
I stared at Simone for a long while, searching her face for the lie, but again I just didn’t have the talent to find it.
The Countess shifted her hands. Now I was no longer holding onto them. Rather, we were holding onto each other. For a heartbeat I considered pulling away, but Simone’s fingers gently squeezed mine, and I lost the urge to break free.
The Countess spoke in a clear voice that carried between us.
“My mother, Selena Alucard Raynar, made the decision to falsify your sister’s death.”
“Why?”
“Because it was easier to make you accept her death, than the alternative.”
“Which was?”
“That Celica was ordered to infiltrate Crimson Crescent.”
This time I pulled free of Simone’s grip.
I took a step back as I shook my head in denial. “That’s nonsense. That’s complete nonsense. My sister hated Crescent almost as much as I do. Infiltrate them? She’d rather slaughter them all.”
“Caelum listen to me!” The Countess balled her hands into fists. “Celica was an Artemis. She was the best of the current crop. But after she came back from a mission to recover an Artifact from Crescent, I heard that she changed. She started questioning the Prides. She started questioning my mother, her commander. And she turned against my sister Silia who served alongside her as an Artemis. Not long afterwards, she was caught stealing a Fragment from a secure facility. My mother said an operation was initiated to hunt her down, but the real objective was to have Celica rescued by Crimson Crescent and taken into their ranks. Her treachery was just an elaborate cover story. All of it was a lie to make Crimson Crescent believe that Celica Desanto had betrayed her masters.”
She paused for breath before adding, “But her death was faked in order to cut her ties with you. It was meant to set you free, even if it turned you into an orphan. Rather than spending your life wondering if your sister would ever return, it was better to have you believe she was dead. It would give you the chance to move on, even if it made you despise the Aventis and Crescent even more.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Arisa had told me about Celica Awakening as a Familiar and being recruited into Artemis. I learnt all this after I Awakened so Simone’s words were not news to me. But a mission to infiltrate Crescent was, and I found it hard to accept that Celica was the right person for the job.
I gave Simone a hard look. “Is this what Prissila was going to tell me at the amusement park?”
The Countess looked
hesitant. “Perhaps. We don’t know what the Ventiss family knows about your sister’s involvement with Crescent. But we couldn’t take the risk of having Prissila reveal the truth. Prissila probably thought we wouldn’t try to intervene in a public area, but she was wrong. And we were afraid of how you would react.”
“You tried to stop her because you were afraid I’d do something in public?”
If so that meant that the Raynars and Lanfears didn’t trust me. It meant they didn’t trust me with a Fragment. In that case, why give me such a powerful Fragment?
But what disturbed me the most, was the fact that Simone didn’t trust me.
I realized that her opinion of me mattered to me.
I asked her rather harshly, “What did you think I was going to do?”
She shook her head fervently. “I don’t know. I just know that I didn’t want her talking to you.”
“Why, Simone?”
“Because I wanted to be the one to tell you the truth.”
“What truth? Are you talking about Celica, or is there something more?”
The Countess took a handful of slow breaths. “Caelum, listen to me carefully. Before you transferred to Galatea Academy, my mother spoke to me privately. She said there were things I needed to know about you. Important things.”
“Such as?”
The Countess exhaled softly. “My mother told me about your sister. She also told me about your parents, and about your ancestors. She told me about your family bloodline.”
“My bloodline?”
Simone nodded. “My mother said that originally it was my blood that was supposed to trigger your Awakening as a Familiar.” She pressed down upon her chest. “My mother wanted the two of us to be bonded to each other. Arisa Imreh was not part of the plan.”
“Then why weren’t we bonded?”
She shook her head and her ash grey locks swayed. “I don’t know. At the last minute the Raynar Primatriarch sent word that you were to be left alone. In fact, she contacted the Lanfears and offered you to them. Arisa Imreh jumped at the opportunity. But the Ventiss Family was livid. They had plans for Prissila to bond with you. When she learnt about the Primatriarch’s directive, Prissila took matters into her own hands. Her family may have considered breaking the agreement, but it was Prissila who actually broke it. She sent Constance to your school, but Constance saw that Caprice was also headed your way. As a result, Constance clashed with Caprice and tried preventing the Lanfears from getting to you.”
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