by D. N. Leo
She looked down and saw Arik running below, shouting up at her. He waved his hands, gesturing for her to come down.
She circled in the air and then landed.
Arik rushed over, grabbing her shoulders. "You are not going anywhere or doing anything by yourself. This is Xiilok—not exactly the multiversal safe haven. I understand you’re worried about Cooper. I’m worried about my sister, too. Before we left, there was the explosion at my parents’ place, and I still haven’t been able to get an answer from Ciaran because the device he gave me isn’t working. I need you to calm down and help me figure out how to tackle this situation before you take any hasty action."
“Wow, that was a long speech, Arik. I'm sorry I made you worry. I just wanted to try to fly out my frustration. I know we have to come up with a plan.”
Arik exhaled his relief and then sat down on a stone. He buried his face in his hands. "I know I can't afford to make mistakes, but I just don't know what to do right now.”
"I think we should attack the Red Shield tribe. It’s risky, but it’s an immediate action we can take. Cooper said the Red Shield have something to do with Jenny being taken. And they’re just over the hill.”
“He also said the machine that captured Jenny was manmade. Red Shield technology is primitive. I doubt they’d use a machine like that.”
“That's an assumption, Arik. In terms of technology, I don't know what humans are capable of. But if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that humans are complicated. They might not have the most sophisticated technology, but if they have an agenda, they can always force space creatures to use their technology.”
“Am I supposed to feel flattered just because I’m a human?”
“You’re no longer an ordinary human. You’re a Xiilok citizen and the up-and-coming leader of the Yellow Shield tribe. You might liberate this universe for a change.”
Arik rolled his eyes. “I just want to find my sister. That’s all I can think of right now.”
“That’s why I suggest going to the Red Shield. Do you remember a bunch of Grace lookalike robots and the Red Shield camp? They didn’t look very sophisticated. We can get in to see if they have Jenny. I think that’s where Cooper would go.”
Arik nodded. “All right, but we won’t attack directly. And only the two of us will go. I won’t take Yellow Shield soldiers there.”
“Of course not. If we take soldiers, I want real fighters, not liabilities,” she said.
“What exactly are you saying?”
“No offense, Arik, but the soldiers in your tribe have no training.”
“The Yellow Shields are peaceful people.”
“And that’s good when you live in peaceful times. But this is not that time.”
Arik shrugged.
From the corner of her eye, Dinah saw a shadow creeping away from behind a rock. “It heard us!” she said and flew toward the space creature.
It was the scorpion with spider legs. The size of the creature didn't stop Dinah from pounding on it. After taking a few of Dinah’s punches, it dropped a small item from its belly to the ground. Some of its legs were broken, but it tried to retreat on the ones it had remaining.
Dinah picked up the item from the ground. In her palm was a small knife she had made for Cooper. It wasn't a simple knife, but a knife whose blade was coated with the most exotic poison in the cosmos. Cooper would never have left that knife behind. She turned around to look at the creature. “This is Cooper's,” she said. “Did you hurt him?”
The creature tried to scramble away but couldn’t move quickly because some of its broken legs dangled and tangled with the unbroken ones.
"I asked if you hurt Cooper?"
She remembered the electronic notepad Cooper had left behind, saying he was sorry about Jenny and wouldn’t stop searching until he found her. Was that the last she would ever hear from him? What if he was lying in a ditch in Xiillok somewhere, waiting for her to rescue him?
“Where did you take him? Did you eat him?” She jumped on the creature, stabbing it again and again with the very knife she had given Cooper.
Arik yanked her off the pile of what used to be a space creature.
"You’ve killed it a thousand times over, Dinah. That's enough. Calm down."
She pulled herself out of his grip and charged at the dead animal again.
“Cooper is a smart guy. He wouldn't die that easily. Look at yourself—even if Cooper is dead, he’ll come back to life to be angry at you.”
“I don’t need to look at myself. I know what I look like.”
“No, you don’t." He grabbed her and pulled her toward a puddle of muddy water. “Look.” He pointed.
She looked down at her reflection in the water.
She saw a face she didn't recognize—pale skin laced with bloody veins, huge dark black eyes. She was unfamiliar with that look, but she knew it was the evil part of her. She withdrew from the water and its reflection.
Arik pulled her into his arms, holding her tight, and whispered into her ear. "Don't be scared. I've seen it before. It’s not you. But it seems to take control of you when you lose control of your emotion. If you don’t control yourself, it will kill you and those around you. I don't know anything at all about the angel business, so that’s the best explanation I can come up with. No matter what causes this, I need you to trust me and know I'll be right next to you.” He kissed her cheek.
“Jael told me my evil aunt possessed me and put a curse on me before she died. The evil will come out when I’m weak. But I didn't know it was triggered by emotions, too.”
"Now you do."
“My biological profile suggests I don’t have human emotions.”
“Well, apparently you have them. But that doesn’t make you weak.”
“I have feelings for you, but I think it’s merely a positive chemical reaction. I want to love you the way you love me. But how will that work out if loving you makes me vulnerable to the evil inside me?”
Arik stared at her for a moment. She could see in his eyes that he didn’t have an answer for her.
She stood and patted his shoulder lightly. “Let’s go find Cooper and Jenny.”
5
Madeline’s jaw dropped as Ciaran, looking magnificent in a leather jacket, zoomed up on a giant motorbike to the sidewalk where she stood waiting. She didn’t know what sort of bike it was, but the sight of him riding it sent her hormones into frenzy.
Ciaran took his helmet off, grinned, and handed Madeline a helmet. “Would you like to go for a ride, First Councillor?”
“Do you have a license?”
“No, but I can’t be fined.”
“Because you’re king of Eudaiz, or because you’re no longer a citizen here?”
“Neither. If they want to give me a fine, they’ll have to catch me first.”
She was about to hop on the bike when she saw a white van parked across the street. She felt a shiver at the back of her neck.
“What is it, Madeline?”
“Huh?”
“You looked like you had a sensation. Another vision?”
She shook her head. She’d told him before that she hadn’t had a precognition, but she knew him too well. He hadn’t believed her then and had asked the same question again to try to make her slip with an inconsistency. Her lies would never be consistent because she didn’t have a poker face and was downright untalented when it came to lying.
But she had received some strange signals from the white van and then an odd sensation from a flashback she didn’t want to remember.
She was confused. The flashback became stronger by the second, bringing a sense of nostalgia and sweet memories.
She was in trouble.
Ciaran wasn’t a psychic, but he could see right through her, especially when she was in emotional turmoil. She scanned the street again, looking for the white van. The van was an immediate matter at hand and potentially a danger. She wasn’t going to spend a drop of her energy on a silly flashback right n
ow.
She squinted, trying to peek into the mind of the occupant of the van who had sent her the signal.
Buzzing noises.
“The white van across the street,” she said. “I’m getting a strange feeling about it.”
Ciaran didn’t look in the van’s direction, and he kept a neutral expression on his face. “Something supernatural?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I’m not sure. I haven’t had this sensation before. I’m pretty sure the signal from that van is aiming straight at us. Someone was hoping we would catch it. But I don’t know what kind of signal it is.” Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow of her past—someone she thought she would never see again—walking along the street.
“Madeline!” Ciaran called out.
“Huh?”
“Did you see something else other than the van?”
“No, nothing.” Except that person, she thought. She was sure it had nothing to do with the situation at hand, and especially nothing to do with the van waiting for them across the street, so she brushed the thought away.
She blinked and saw Ciaran’s striking gray eyes paused on her face a fraction longer than usual.
Damn, he’d caught her.
He was way too smart for her to lie to. Just after they’d gotten married, he had told her all his secrets, including the unflattering ones. She had done the same. But she’d held one back. This one.
Damn it! She couldn’t now go back on her word and say she had forgotten to mention it. Why had she held it back? Damn it, damn it! She couldn’t think straight right now. A girl was entitled to a few secrets. Maybe. But not Ciaran’s girl. And she wasn’t just a girl. She was his wife and the First Councillor in his Sciphil committee.
“Madeline!”
“Huh?”
“Are you okay?”
“No. I mean, yes. I just couldn’t get the signal from that van.”
He nodded. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s go.”
She grabbed the helmet and hopped onto the bike. As she did so, she took a quick peek into Ciaran’s mind to see what he was thinking.
As she expected, her signal bounced back, empty. He had figured out a way to block her from reading his mind. She sighed. Everyone was entitled to their privacy, and she shouldn’t have even attempted it in the first place.
Ciaran drove slowly, checking his rearview mirror to see if the van followed them.
It did. Ciaran accelerated, slowed down, then accelerated again. He drove around the block. The white van followed them wherever he went.
"If you’re going to spy on someone, be a little bit more subtle, idiots,” Ciaran muttered. “Do you feel the gun in my side pocket?"
Madeline slid her hand under Ciaran’s jacket and touched the gun. "Yes."
“That gun is just a normal gun. We’ll use it if the situation calls for it. It’s not safe for us to show off our supernatural capabilities in the middle of New York, so refrain from turning on your eudqi. That’ll also prevent someone from prying information from us.”
“So you want us to not only live here like humans but behave like them, too?”
“We can try to behave like humans. But I doubt we can ever be like them again."
Ciaran suddenly slowed down, forcing the white van driver to slam on his brakes and veer around them. When the van drove past, they saw a woman sitting in the front passenger seat. In contrast to the rundown van, the woman was stunning, with long dark hair, emerald eyes, an elegant royal face. She smiled and nodded at Ciaran and Madeline.
Then she turned to the driver and said something to him. The next thing they knew, the van accelerated and zoomed off into the distance, vanishing into the polluted air of New York City.
“Did you get that?" Ciaran asked.
"Yes. You shouldn't have expected any less of me." Madeline smiled and slid the signal gun back into his pocket. "I aimed for the bottom of the car so no one will see the signal system and know they’re being tagged.”
He smiled at her in the reflective mirror. “Thanks.”
As she sat on the motorcycle, her body pressed against his back, she could feel him chuckle. The vibration of his joy was contagious, and it sang through her body.
Red traffic light.
Ciaran stopped.
And then, right in front of her, the shadow of her past walked across the street with the flow of pedestrians.
Other pedestrians pale as his image sparked and floated in halo light. She hoped it was just a vision. But it wasn’t. After all these years, he looked just the same. She slammed the helmet visor down and looked away.
6
Arete frowned at the jar on the table. He couldn’t believe he was looking at the primer for inter-world mutation—the golden formula any creature would kill for. His centuries-long business dealing with Asana had proven its worth after all.
He smiled to himself and leaned back in a chair in the corner of the small dark dungeon in Xiilok. He really shouldn’t call it a dungeon. For his business partner, Asana, it was a sacred place of medical and ritual practice.
Regardless of whether he liked it or not, he needed Asana to perform his part well for them both to succeed.
There was a slight noise, and Asana stepped out from a small side doorway.
Hold it together, Arete told himself to stop from laughing out loud when he saw Asana’s eyes, his irises swimming with what looked like worms. Having survived the multiverse for a few hundred years, he should have known better than to let mere kids like Cooper and Jenny kick him down the Well of Second Chances.
Arete frowned. Was that the name of the well? Recently, his memories had been deteriorating rapidly. He hardly remembered the names of any creatures or locations anymore. That was the curse of being immortal, he figured.
Arete shrugged inwardly. It would work out best for him. Those who drank the water in the well became official shady citizens of Xiilok, the heart of the Amalgam world and the land of the multiversal outlaws. Previously, Asana had kept switching between the Amalgam world and the material world, and at times, he thought Asana would backstab him and take both. But now, Asana had no choice but to compete in the Amalgam world, leaving Arete the freedom to do whatever he wanted.
Arete pasted a smile on his face. “Are you well?” he asked.
“As well as you would expect. You look happy.” He pointed his chin toward the jar. “Especially now that you know I have completed the primer.”
“How do I know if it works?”
“You don’t. You could test it on other creatures, but I made only one dose. I know the formula and can replicate it, of course, but I’m too busy. Now it’s your turn to do your part.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. I told you I’d take care of the material world. I always hold up my end of the business.”
“Really? Who did your contractors capture instead of Arik Bonneville?”
“Look, that was a mistake. I didn’t know they were that clueless. I gave them clear instructions. But it happened in Xiilok. And you know Earthly creatures are at a disadvantage in Xiilok.”
“Yes, I know. They’re blind as bats here. But what I don’t understand is why you didn’t use inter-world mercenaries as you promised me. I could have done it myself if I could help it.”
“There, that’s the problem. You couldn’t help it!” Arete kicked the chair back and stood up. “Don’t point your finger at me. Arik Bonneville is your problem. If you’re shitting yourself because he’ll be kicking your ass in the Amalgam world, then get your act together. We’re getting too close to the date to afford any mistakes. If there’s going to be a fight, then get ready for it. It’s better to fight the devil you know. The Yellow Shields chose Arik for a reason. If we kill him, and they replace him with someone else, you will be the one to cop the heat—not me.”
Arete grabbed the primer jar and turned to leave.
“Are you sure Arik is the only problem I have to deal with?”
; Arete smirked. “He’s the problem I know of.”
“What about the girl?”
“Which girl? Arik’s sister? I told you that was a mistake. When my intelligence in the Daimon Gate caught her last name, it sent a signal that confused my people. They thought Cooper was Arik Bonneville—a stupid assumption from Earth mercenaries. But why would they run to the Daimon Gate and declare their names anyway? Was that after they kicked you down the well?”
“What?”
“You heard me! Why did you chase Jenny and Cooper instead of Arik and the other girl? Whatever her name is.”
“I ran into them by accident. I didn’t chase them.”
“Is that right? Okay, my guys didn’t take Jenny. I don’t know who did, but I don’t have her. Regarding the other girl, my intelligence suggests that she is Eudaizian and working for Ciaran LeBlanc. He has zillions of minions working for him. She shouldn’t be a concern.”
“Are you sure?”
“Well, no. But anyone and anything to do with Arik Bonneville is an Amalgam world problem. Your problem. I have my own shit to take care of. I’ll help you this time in exchange for this primer. Otherwise, you’re on your own.” He raised the jar. “What’s in this exactly?”
Now Asana smirked. “Maikoa. The kind that grows in Xiilok.”
“The poisonous flower?”
“Don’t worry. Although you’re an asshole, I still need you. So I’m not going to poison you. But you need to know that one has to die first before mutation becomes possible.”
“Well, I’ll make sure not to use it unless absolutely necessary. If we get dark solar, there will be no need for this.”
Asana nodded. “Let’s hope for that!”
As soon as Arete stepped outside the zone encircling Asana’s residence and into the shadow of a dimensional shifting rock, he looked around to ensure Asana hadn’t followed or sent any creatures after him. Then he opened his palm, revealing a small, shiny talisman. He pressed lightly on the middle of the talisman and waited until it glowed. The voice of the old underworld minor god asked, “Do I need to restrict your calls to three?"