by T. C. Edge
The guard nods and continues to guide us towards the rear, where a second guarded door awaits. We’re given passage inside, and enter into a short corridor with a third door at the end. As the door behind is shut off, leaving Zander and me momentarily alone, I feel a keen sense of nerves brewing.
“Who is this woman?” I ask. “And why was everyone staring at me?”
“They’re just on high alert, think nothing of it. And this woman is one of the leaders of our cause.”
“Leaders?! And why am I meeting her?!”
“Because she requested it,” comes his swift response. “Don’t look so nervous. If you can handle standing up in front of all of Inner Haven, you can handle this…”
He presses on and knocks on the door ahead. I wait, trying to control my breathing, but thinking myself completely unprepared for this and completely out of my depth.
So, sure, maybe I am a hybrid, and maybe a few abilities will manifest in me, but there appears to be dozens of hybrids around here. Maybe more. Hundreds, I don’t know.
Why am I so special?
As my mind whirls, the door opens, and a warmth spreads from inside. I see a crackling fire giving off a comforting orange glow, the room carpeted in a warm maroon and far more inviting than the main part of the church behind us.
Zander steps in first, and I follow right behind, searching for this woman we’re here to see. I turn to the window, and see a shadow looming, staring out over the cityscape beyond, at the High Tower soaring high and illuminated with a pale glow.
We stop before her, and a cool voice drifts towards us, calm and measured, her words deliberate.
“This must be the girl you’ve been telling me about, Zander.”
“Yes, Lady Orlando. This is Brie Melrose.”
The shadow turns, the light of the fire revealing her features. Dark eyes look upon me, searching and yet distant. Her face is pale and narrow, cheeks hollowed out and gaunt. There’s a frailty to her frame, and yet a conviction in her face. I can’t tell if she’s welcoming or not, a smile rising on her face that leaves me confused.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Brie,” she says, stepping away from the window towards me. “Your performance at the ceremony was rather good, I thought.”
“Um…thank you,” I say, as she extends a bony hand.
I grip it and after a formulaic double shake, she slips her fingers from mine.
“I do apologise for interrupting your segment up there,” she continues. “However, it was quite fortunate that you happened to appear before us all like that.”
My confusion remains absolute. Now’s the time for answers.
“Was it you?” I ask. “On the screen?”
“Oh…good God no, child. That was one of our many faithful warriors. The message, however, was something we all believe in.”
“That the Fanatics are actually under the control of the Savants,” I say.
“I see Zander’s been informing you of things already.”
“Well, actually Lady Orlando, she largely drew the conclusion for herself.”
“I see. It’s clear, however, that you remain in the dark about a great many things, Brie. I can see that your main question is simply…why are you here?”
I nod, and watch the smile continue to settle on her face, unmoving.
“Well, you, dear girl, are in a quite unique position among our ranks.”
Our ranks? It’s as if she’s already assimilated me right in…
“How so?” I ask.
“You are a unique mix, and potentially a special talent,” she answers. “You have a power inside you that few have, as well as a position among the Unenhanced that presents a unique opportunity…”
“I…don’t understand? What do you want me to do?”
She hovers over to a little side table by the fire, and pours herself a glass of whiskey. Clearly a favourite drink amongst the old ladies of this city.
In fact, the manner in which she’s delaying reminds me a little of Mrs Carmichael. It’s obvious that what they want from me isn’t going to be easy.
Sipping her whiskey, she directs a question at Zander.
“Are you absolutely sure it’s her?” she asks.
He looks at me, his endless gaze working its way right through me.
“I’m sure, Lady Orlando,” he says.
She pours another two glasses of whiskey, and hands one to Zander, and then one to me.
“Take a sip, it’ll calm you,” she says. “I can see the concern in your eyes, Brie. But know this…you’re not going to be forced to do anything you don’t want to do. If you so wish, you can return to your academy and continue as you have been. If you choose to join us, however, you will need to know what you’re getting yourself into.”
Her words, and the sip of whiskey, do their job. I feel my body settling, my nerves being doused, the fire of fear and worry inside me slowly quenched.
These people killed my parents. I have no choice. I can’t turn back.
I won’t turn back.
My silence and the sudden calm in my demeanour draw a fresh smile onto Lady Orlando’s face.
“Good,” she says. “Now, I’m sure by now that Zander has informed you that the world you live in isn’t quite what it seems. The Court have been working towards suppressing the liberties of the Unenhanced for many years. Truly, your visit to Inner Haven will have opened your eyes to the world they have created for themselves, and the Enhanced. It is their aim to make all lands under their rule as such…”
“Zander told me,” I say, nodding. “I never knew it was so bad.”
“Well, it is. However, we have no true idea of what their full intentions are. There are things that go on in the High Tower that none of us are privy to, and we’ve been looking for someone who can go to Inner Haven as a spy…”
As she speaks, my eyebrows descend lower and lower, and my features curl up with utter confusion.
“A spy,” I find myself cutting in. I can’t help it, despite who I’m talking to. “You want me to be a spy! How can I do that?!”
“I understand your doubts, Brie. So let me explain. We have a man on the inside, a man who is currently unattached. He is due to attend a bachelor ball in the coming days, and with the impact you made during the ceremony, I’m sure we’ll be able to get you to attend as well. As far as they know it, you’re just an exceptional Unenhanced. It’s the perfect cover.”
“But…attend a bachelor ball…for the Enhanced? You have to be kidding me! So you want me to have a relationship with this man?”
“It will be nothing but a sham,” comes Zander’s voice. I find my eyes narrowing as I look at him. This is why he brought me here. “You’ll be able to operate undercover in Inner Haven, and can help us from the inside. You’d be doing a world of good, Brie…”
“But why me?! I mean, what can I offer? How could I possibly get into the High Tower?!”
A million other queries and concerns materialise in my head as Zander and Lady Orlando share a look.
“Settle yourself, Brie,” says Lady Orlando. “Take another sip of whiskey. It helps, it really does.”
I do as ordered, taking a moment to compose myself.
“Now, we understand this is all a bit of a shock,” she continues. “That is only natural. However, as you well know, it is common for Unenhanced to marry into the ranks of the Enhanced, and live in Inner Haven. With your profile as it is, and the hidden abilities inside you, we consider you a prime candidate to take on this mission…”
“But I’m no spy, and I don’t even know what abilities I’ll have, if any! And, what if they find me? What if they discover that I’m a hybrid? I’ll be killed…”
Once more, my voice quickens, forcing Zander to slide in beside me and offer me a comforting arm. As he does so, I hear Lady Orlando whispering quietly to him.
“Tell her, Zander. She needs to know. I’ll give you some space.”
I raise my eyes again to see the old lady shift
towards the door. Before she leaves, she offers a final few words to me.
“You are compelled to do nothing, Brie. Remember that. You can forget all of this, if you want, and return to your world. The choice, really, is yours.”
With that, she opens the door and slips out of the room, leaving Zander and me alone once again. I find the whiskey glass back at my lips, my desire for a refill quickly growing stronger.
Zander seems to sense such a thing. The bottle is sought and a fresh supply emptied into my glass. After returning the bottle to the table, he wanders slowly over towards the window, his eyes set on the distant shape of the High Tower, glowing in the darkness.
A short silence follows, before his voice registers in the room once more, softer this time, more calm.
“My mother once lived there,” he says, gazing into the night.
The words take a moment to register.
“Your mother…was a Savant?” I ask, still standing by the fire.
I see his head nod, his body so still. I wonder how far his eyes can take his gaze, whether he can make out the details of the High Tower, see the shadows of shapes moving within.
“My mother had strange powers that she passed to me. I can see into people’s minds, Brie, read and manipulate their thoughts. For a long time, I was like you, hidden in Outer Haven, my abilities suppressed. Then, my life changed one day, and I found myself on this path. It’s one I’ve trodden since I was just a boy…”
I find myself moving towards him, drawn in as he speaks. There’s a melancholy to his words, a suppressed sadness and simmering anger, locked down below the surface.
As I come, nearing his side, I whisper into the now quiet room: “You’re a Mind-Manipulator?”
“I’m many things,” he says. “Many things, like you…”
I reach him and turn my eyes to his, still fixed to the distance and refusing to blink.
“But how do you know? How do you know what I am?” I ask, my voice little more than a murmur now.
His hand slips into his jacket. His fingers withdraw a piece of card, folded in two. Finally, he turns to me, opening the card up before his eyes.
“I know what you are, Brie…I know what you can do…because you can do what I can. We’re one and the same. And when I saw you, on that big screen, I finally knew…I’d found you…”
His words come out slowly as he opens the card, twisting it around to show me the other side.
My breathing halts. My heart-rate suddenly grows stiff. My eyes lock to the picture, to the image of my parents, looking down at their child.
But not one child.
Two.
Then, slowly, my eyes lift again and meet with Zander’s. Hazel, like mine, deep as an ocean. And a smile forms on his face.
“You and me…we’re twins, Brie.”
The Enhanced will continue in Part Two…Hybrid.
Part II
HYBRID
27
There are different depths of silence.
It isn’t merely a single definition of a period of time with no sound at all. That’s what I used to think. No longer.
Some silences are so deep that you wonder if they’ll ever be broken. You wonder if your words would actually interrupt them. Right now, if I were to speak, would my words materialise? Or would they just get swallowed up by the depths of this long, lingering quiet?
Zander stands before me, his own tongue tied up behind his lips, his eyes seeming to lock in place as they search me. Search for any reaction on my face, in my eyes, in the internal mechanisms going on inside me.
My heart rate and rate of breathing and the almost imperceptible shivering of my limbs. All things that Zander can see and read.
All things he can feel.
He awaits my voice, though, and a break to my sudden onset of muteness. I hardly register the passing of the moments that turn to long seconds, and the seconds that turn to minutes.
For several of them, it seems, I just stand there, letting his words settle inside me. Looking at this boy of my age – exactly my age – with the same eyes as me, and the same genes, and the same DNA.
This boy with the same parents.
I look at him and he just looks back, and in my head the reality begins to dawn.
I have a brother.
I have a twin.
I’m not alone after all.
I want to question it. To query this most absurd of revelations. To shake my head and display the most pronounced frown I can manage, and then turn away and await some sort of further explanation.
But I don’t do any of that.
Instead, I just look at him, and let the truth settle. Let it permeate my mind and colonise my thoughts. Let the silence do its job for a time, and hold back my disbelieving, questioning, doubtful self from storming to the fore.
And as those seconds pass, and the silence grows more profound, I find my mind filling with no doubts at all. Instead, I merely look at him and know that everything he’s told me makes sense. That he is my brother, my twin, my blood.
He is my family.
I break the silence and the still. I move towards him, closing the short gap, opening up my arms and wrapping them around him. I bury my head into his chest, and his arms gently coil to my back.
And then, as I hold him tight, I finally allow a whisper to slide from my lips.
“I have a brother…”
Now his words come, along with a tightening of his grip.
“Yes, Brie…you do. I’ve known about you for so long. I’ve pictured this moment a thousand times before.”
I hold his words in my head, and lock them away deep, saving the memory of this moment. A moment I never knew would come. A moment I can never have expected.
And yet, now that I know, a moment that feels right. As if a part of me has been missing all my life, something I was never even aware of until now.
Now, it all makes sense.
Yet as I hold him, my mind begins to swim with further questions. Questions about his past. Questions about my – our – parents.
I pull away from him, and fix my hazel eyes to his once more. I don’t need to speak, or fill the room with the questions that bound around behind my eyes.
Zander knows. He offers a faint smile, and begins to speak himself.
“We were separated,” he begins, turning his eyes back to the shimmering lights of the High Tower, so far away in the distance and fading into the green mist. “Our parents split us up to protect us. You were passed onto Mrs Carmichael. I was given to another guardian…” He winces, his shoulders dropping, and a shallow sigh falls from his lips. “She was the only mother I ever knew. She was killed.”
I reach out and take his hand for comfort.
“Was she…like Mrs Carmichael?” I ask softly. “I mean, was it an orphanage?”
He shakes his head, and firms up his gaze.
“No. It was just the two of us. Linda and me - that was her name. She knew our father, and he trusted her to take me in.”
“What happened? You say she died?”
He nods and briefly shuts his eyes, before opening them up again and continuing.
“I was just 12 years old,” he whispers, searching the empty space beyond the window. “She used to keep me in her small apartment as much as possible. She told me how dangerous is was outside, told me all sorts of stories to keep me hidden away. I never knew back then what I was. I was just like you, Brie, my powers suppressed by the drugs she gave me, my life so simple. But I was just a boy, curious of the world. The stories she told me only made me more inquisitive.”
He swings his eyes from the window, and drifts back towards the fire. Scooping up a glass of whiskey, he sucks down a long gulp, settling his voice.
I watch him from the side of the room, allowing him the space to reflect, to draw up the painful memories of his past.
“One day,” he continues eventually, “I escaped and went out into the streets. I’d barely ever been outside. It was al
l new, all exciting. I’d never felt a thrill like it.”
He shakes his head, and I note his jaw clenching. Through gritted teeth, his story resumes.
“I got lost. I was…stupid. Somewhere in the northern quarter, out on those dark streets. For hours I wandered, not knowing where to go, or what to do. And then, around one corner, she was there…” A smile builds on his face, quickly dowsed. “She found me, and paid the price. A man came from the shadows. He tried to take her purse, but she wouldn’t let him. He had a gun. He…he used it.”
He cuts himself short, turning his eyes to the back of the room, where the light of the fire barely penetrates. I move towards him, silently drawing in with soft eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper, hardly knowing what to say, or whether to say anything at all. “It must have been terrible.”
He doesn’t nod, or shake his head, or offer any other reaction. He merely continues to look into the shadows, as if he’s staring at the memory, playing out before his eyes.
“After the funeral, I had nowhere to go,” he says. “I felt so…angry. Like I’d never felt before. I went out there again, looking for the man who ruined my life, who took hers. I didn’t care about what might happen. I had nothing left, no one. For weeks I lost myself to the northern quarter, to the darkness. And without my medication, my abilities began to develop. Slowly but surely, I changed. And that’s when the Nameless found me. That’s when my new guardian took me in.”
“Lady Orlando?” I whisper.
He nods, and turns back to me now, sucking in a deep breath.
“I’ve been part of this cause ever since. I was nowhere, just an angry, lost boy drifting through a sea of shadows. She gave me purpose, gave me a new path to tread. A path that eventually led me back to my old home, lying empty after Linda’s death. I needed information, Brie, just like you did. I needed to know what she knew, who my parents were. And that’s when I found the picture of us both. That’s when I knew I had a twin.”
He draws his eyes to mine now, and doesn’t turn away. Setting his mind back to the future, turning away from the painful past.