by Aaron DeMott
“The monks say the soul craves Ard. Like a hungry man craves food. Only he doesn’t know exactly what it is he needs,” Kasai said.
“That sounds like monks. A bunch of cryptic nonsense,” Saija said.
“I think it’s supposed to make make you think,” Onin said.
“Yeah, I think they’re a bunch of crazy loonies.”
“And yet, who has actually cared about you, you as a person, with no strings attached?” Kasai said.
Saija snorted. “Yeah, right. You just want to keep me alive so you can pump me for information.”
Kasai raised an eyebrow, and didn’t say anything.
“There.” Brother Terrence took a deep breath and opened his eyes. “The final cure is up to you accepting Ard’s love, but you should have some more time for him to reveal himself to you now.”
The black lines were gone from everywhere but Saija’s right thigh, and there they were now just a faint gray color.
Chapter 7
Natas? Not Again!
The door slammed shut. Onin looked up from his history textbook and huffed. He really needed to study for this test.
“You should’ve come, Onin.” Tannin waved at him and flopped on the couch. “There were about a hundred people there. It was so much fun!”
“You do know we have a history test tomorrow, right?”
“Eh.” Tannin stood and got himself a glass of water. “History is the past. I’d rather live in the future.”
“You might not have one if you flunk.”
“Whatever. Hey, did you and Kasai go visit Saija again today?”
“Nope. She’s busy studying, too.”
“Bah. There’s more to life that studying. Say,” Tannin reached over and closed Onin’s history book. “You and Kasai have been spending a lot of time together lately. Is that the real reason you don’t want to go to parties and meet girls? Got a crush on our introverted little kinetic?”
“We’re just friends.” Onin felt his face heat up. He pulled his history book away from Tannin and flipped it open again. “I don’t think she’s interested in me, anyway.”
“Oh, please.” Tannin pulled a chair around so he could sit facing Onin. “Haven’t you noticed that she talks to you all the time? If she has something to say, she says it you. And every once in a while, she’ll touch your arm to get your attention, or take your hand or something.”
“Everyone does that.”
“See, this is why I want you to get out more. Haven’t you noticed? Kasai doesn’t touch anyone. Ever. Yet she’ll touch you. Yeah, it’s little things, and I probably ‘touch’ you more than that, what with friendly punches, slapping your shoulder, and whatnot. But Kasai doesn’t do any of that with anyone.”
Tannin leaned back and looked fixedly at him. Onin shut his history book. Kasai had touched his arm with one finger to get his attention a few times over the past day or so. And she had held his hand during a few of those team building exercises. Of course, Tannin had his other hand on those same occasions, so he hadn’t thought much of it at the time.
“Huh.” Onin picked up his history book and stood up. “I’m going out.”
A girl with blond hair wearing bunny pajamas opened the door to Kasai’s room when Onin knocked on it.
“Hi, I’m Onin. Is Kasai here?” Onin asked.
“Holy crap!” The blond turned and hollered into the dorm. “Kasai, some hot guy’s here. To see you.” She turned back to Onin. “Come on in. I didn’t know Kasai had any friends. I’m Jennifer, Kasai’s roommate.”
Onin stepped into the dorm suite and looked around. It was laid out almost exactly like his and Tannin’s rooms. Central common area with a couch, coffee table, and a small counter with a sink and microwave. The doorway to the right probably led to two small bedrooms and the shared bathroom.
Kasai poked her head around the corner. She bit her lower lip, and her eyes darted around the room. Her face lit up and she smiled when she saw Onin.
“Hi.” She walked up to within a few inches of Onin. “Anything wrong?”
“Holy crap!” Jennifer’s jaw dropped open. She looked back and forth between Onin and Kasai. “I didn’t… um, ah, I’ll leave you two alone.”
She leaned in toward Kasai and loudly whispered, “Go Kasai!” before she left the room.
Kasai’s face turned red, and she stared at the floor. Was she attracted to him, or had he just embarrassed her?
Onin looked down and ran his hand through his hair. “I was, uh, just wondering if you wanted to study for that history test together.”
Kasai nodded, her face still beet red. She ran out of the room and was back in seconds with her history book.
Something beeped. Onin rolled over and tried to ignore it, but it beeped again. Onin glanced at the clock and groaned. It was almost time to get up anyway. More beeping. Onin fumbled around on the nightstand until he found his phone.
“Hello?”
“Good morning, Onin. This is Professor Jekao. I was wondering if you and Tannin could drop by my office before your history test this morning.”
“Sure, I’ll be right there.”
Onin pulled on his clothes, went over to Tannin’s room, and knocked on the door.
“Tannin, get up!” Onin knocked again. “We’ve got to see Professor Jekao before class!”
Five minutes later the door opened and Tannin shuffled out. His jeans and t-shirt were rumpled, and Onin could’ve sworn he’d worn them a day or so ago.
“Whatever.” Onin rolled his eyes. “Let’s go.”
Kasai— and for once, Cerina— were waiting in Professor Jekao’s office when they got there.
“Had some trouble with the zombie?” Cerina jerked a thumb at Tannin.
“He’ll resent that in a few hours when he wakes up,” Onin said.
“I’ll make this quick, since you have class in a few minutes.” Professor Jekao pulled a screen out of his drawer and held it so they could see it. “A museum here on the ABG campus was robbed late last night. The thieves were caught in a partial frame on one security camera, and they look like the ones that have been attacking the giftlings around Dabrath. Also, the items stolen were all Matari artifacts.”
Onin sucked in a breath. Why would the thieves want objects related to the Matari? The secretive aliens had kept mostly to themselves in the hundred years or so since their ship had crashed on Gesara. As far as he knew, they didn’t have anything particularly valuable, except possibly to an archaeologist.
“ The thieves also stole objects related to the history of giftlings. After your classes, I want you to go to the museum, and see what you can find out.” The professor stood and gestured to the door. “Dismissed.”
“Yes, sir,” they all said.
The entrance to the museum was cordoned off with police tape. Onin walked up to the officer near the door, and when he explained why they were there, the officer let them inside. The main lobby of the museum looked fine. Well, except to the door to the History of Giftlings section. There, a small hole was cut in the glass door next to the handle.
“I don’t get it.” Cerina looked up at the security camera in the corner of the ceiling. “How’d they get through the lobby without being caught on camera?”
“That’s what we’d like to know.”
Onin turned around. The speaker was an older man with hair that was just starting to turn grey at the temples. He wore a long blue overcoat that had an inspector’s badge pinned over the left breast.
“I’m inspector Adamka. The thieves broke in last night sometime around three in the morning. Other than that, we don’t know much. Deputy Jekao suggested that you four take a look around, and see if you spot anything that can connect this robbery to the recent attacks on the giftlings.”
Inspector Adamka lead them into the History of Giftlings section. Almost every case was smashed, and displays were scattered everywhere. Men and women in white lab coats were spaced throughout the room, taking pictures and making no
tes on clipboards.
“The museum staff is still working to find out exactly what was stolen,” Inspector Adamka said. “There’s a few cases that look to be cleaned out, but stuff is scattered everywhere. Feel free to look around.” He handed them each a pair of nitrile gloves. “I’ll be right outside if you need me for anything.”
“Where do we start?” Onin asked.
“It’d be helpful if we knew what was missing.” Cerina picked up a stick with some sort of carving on it. “I mean, what could they want with any of this junk?”
“It’s not junk!” Kasai narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. “That, for example—” Kasai pointed to the stick. “—is a prayer stick. The monks carve prayers into them during the winter months when there’s not much else to do, then they give them out to children during summer festivals. It helps the children learn how to pray to Ard.”
“And why would thieves want that?” Cerina said.
“They didn’t.” Onin slowly turned and looked around the room. “That’s why they didn’t take it. The question is what was here that they did want and why.” He pointed to one of the interactive panels in front of the first display case to their right. “Let’s start at the beginning, see what was here to start with, and try to find something they might have been interested in.”
“And if we see something from different cases, we should pile it together to help the museum staff,” Tannin said. Everyone turned to look at him. “What? I get good ideas sometimes.”
They spent the next two hours going through displays. Apparently, the thieves had a thing for ancient Natas relics, and first dynasty artifacts from various monasteries. All of those items were missing.
“So, I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that our thieves are either Natas, or working for one or something,” Onin said.
“But what’s the connection to the guys attacking the gifted?” Tannin asked.
“Saija,” they all said at once.
“Tannin, go ask Inspector Adamka to have Saija brought here, please,” Onin said.
“Sure!” Tannin dashed to the door and was back in seconds. “He says he’ll have her brought right over.”
Half an hour later the door opened and Inspector Adamka walked in. Saija walked in on crutches behind him. She was escorted by a policeman on either side. Today she wore jean shorts and a fitted t-shirt. Much less distracting than her usual outfit.
“Wow.” Saija looked around the room and whistled. “What a mess.”
“Know anything about it?” Inspector Adamka asked.
“Who me?” Saija put a hand to her chest. “I was half-dead in the hospital, remember?”
“We think some friends of yours might be involved.” Inspector Adamka pulled a tablet computer out of his coat pocket and showed it to Saija. “Recognize anyone here?”
Saija steadied herself on her crutches and took the tablet from the inspector. She studied it for a moment, then pointed to the screen. “I recognize him. I don’t know his name, but I know he works for my old master.”
“We’ve compiled a partial list of the stolen items.” Onin pointed to one of the display screens.”Do you know what he might want with any of this stuff?”
Saija made her way over to the screen and bent over to examine it. She pointed to one of the pictures.
“He’s been collecting these from all over. I’m not quite sure what they are, other than some sort of Natas artifact.”
“Does this master of yours have a name?” Inspector Adamka asked.
“I don’t know.” Saija shrugged. “I never saw him or talked to him directly. The Natas that possessed me communicated with him somehow—” She scrunched up her nose into a disgusted expression.“Oh, that’s not good.”
“What?” all of them asked.
“I know what that one does.” Saija pointed to a picture of a small star-shaped box. “You don’t want to know the details, but if you have two of them they can increase a Natas’s power.” She pointed to a four inch long stick. “That one strengthens the connection between the Natas and the host body. I’m not sure about the others. Wait—”
Saija took a deep breath and pulled up an image of a wicked looking dagger. “I’m pretty sure that’s used in the ceremony to create another Natas.”
“Great, more Natas.” Tannin grimaced. “That’s just what we need.”
“Can we find your old master before he makes another Natas?” Onin asked.
“I don’t know.” Saija brushed her hair back over her ear and bit her lip. “I’m not even sure he’s on this planet, or in this dimension, or whatever.” She pointed to the picture of the star-shaped box. “If you know where another one of these are, I’d lie in wait for them there. They’re going to want both of them.”
“Let’s check with Professor Jekao, he might know where it’d be,” Onin said.
Onin turned and headed for the door, Kasai, Tannin, and Cerina close behind him.
“Wait,” Saija hobbled after them. Onin and Kasai stopped and looked back at her. “Can I come with you? I know more about the Natas than anyone here. We really don’t want another one of those things loose… I should know.”
Onin looked over at Kasai. She nodded.
“Come on,” Onin jerked his head, indicating that she should follow them. “We can at least ask Professor Jekao if it’s okay with him.”
Professor Jekao was seated at his office desk. He looked up from the paper he was holding when Onin and the others burst into his office.
“How’d it go?” he asked.
Onin quickly outlined what they’d been able to find, with Saija’s help, at the museum.
“Another Natas? That’s not good.” Professor Jekao leaned back in his chair and whistled. “Let’s see, I believe the archaeology department has a collection of Natas artifacts that aren’t open to the public.”
He turned in his chair and started to dig through a stack of papers.
“Yes, it’s here in the college newspaper.” He flipped open one of the papers and handed it to Onin.
“ABG Museum to highlight religious collection,” Onin read. “It says here that over two hundred items, about a third of the collection, from the first dynasty will be moved from the ABG archaeology department to be put on display for the public to see and read about for the first time.”
“That explains how they knew that stuff was in the museum,” Cerina said.
“And it’s a big clue that they’ll hit the archaeology department soon,” Onin said.
“You’d better get over there right away,” Professor Jekao said. “I’ll have a policeman meet you there.”
Onin and the others ran out the door. The thieves could strike at any moment. They’d barely been able to defeat Saija, if the Natas was able to make more people—vessels, Saija had called them.. Every giftling in the city would be in trouble. Onin ran faster.
The archaeology department wasn’t hard to find. It looked more like an ancient ruin than it did an institution of higher learning. Marble columns lined the entire structure, and what looked like two-hundred steps led up to the front door.
A police car pulled up to the steps just as Onin and the others arrived. Inspector Adamka got out of the car, and it drove off.
“Professor Jekao called me,” he said. “We’d better get inside as quickly as possible. Wait, where is the prisoner that was with you?”
“Saija?” Onin looked around, she was nowhere in sight. “She was right… oh no.” He slapped his forehead. “We ran all the way here. She’s on crutches there’s no way she could keep up.”
“I’ll go get her.” Kasai turned around and took off running—and skidded to a stop.
A black portal opened six feet off the ground just in front of her. Saija slowly descended from the portal. It snapped shut, and she dropped the remaining foot or so to the ground. She landed gracefully on her one leg, spun her crutches around, and lowered them.
“You ran off without the cripple,” she sa
id.
“Sorry about that.” Onin winced. Running off without the prisoner was the kind of thing Tannin would do He made a mental note to remember the bigger picture. If someone didn’t, the Natas could cause all sorts of trouble.
“You’re lucky I didn’t hobble off and hide somewhere,” she grumbled. “Not that I’d know where to go, or anything. In any case, you’re lucky I don’t want Natas running loose, either.”
“We really are sorry we ran off without you.” Kasai walked over to Saija, lifted her hand to her shoulder, but hesitated and dropped her arm back to her side. “Do you want help getting up all these steps?”
Saija looked over at the archaeology building and did a double-take. “Dang! What kinda sick sadist designed this? Screw walking up that.”
A portal formed under her and she dropped into it. A second later another portal formed above the top step and Saija dropped out of it. That worked, too. Onin shrugged and ran up the steps. They all filed into the lobby.
Inspector Adamka waved them over to him. “This situation could get quite desperate. You’ve all proven yourselves to be powerful giftlings, and you’ve upheld the law beyond what’s expected of you. I can’t make you stay here and help me tonight, and in fact, it would ordinarily be out of the question for me to even ask it of you. However, given the nature of the opponent, I’d appreciate your help. To make it legal I’d have to deputize all of you except Saija, no offense.”