CHANGELING: Book Two in the Weaver Series Page 10

  A little annoyed Cass asked, “So what does Kal’s story have to do with our tests?”

  At the word ‘tests’ Sil looked back to his screens and tapped a few times before making some grunt of confirmation under his breath.

  “If I am correct, your hormone levels seem to be preparing for the Bindao.”

  In the background Zik dropped something. The noise made us jump and his voice was soft as he mumbled an inane apology we ignored.

  All of the air was gone from our lungs. Burning panic made our eyes feel dry and itchy. The blood rushed up our neck in a prickling tide of fear.

  Cass barely squeaked out past our numb lips, “Can you stop it?”

  Sil looked sad. “No.”

  Chapter Ten: Awkward

  When Flotsam and Jetsam dropped us off cowboy Kal was waiting. Our guardian only dressed in his Earth clothes if he was in a strange mood between melancholy and outright contrariness. The double dirty looks Kal earned from our escort seemed to please him and his black eyes brightened reminding us for some reason of an adorable baby seal.

  Kal had known something was up with us right away but we hadn’t been able to make ourselves confess the conversation with Sil about the Bindao or his own past. Instead, over a dinner of simple fruits, what we could only describe as nuts and some unseasoned roly rice Cass shared about Pez and the man with the limp at the Learning Hub. That seemed a sufficient enough reason for us to be on edge for Kal and he left us to our own devices for the evening.

  We slunk away to our room as soon as Kal released us from cleaning the table. Only minimal running water went to every ‘home’ to be used for drinking. A bigger version of the red light alcove that cleaned our hands in the volcano igloo toilet was built into the wall in our kitchen. Kal stacked the nearly empty pith and both of our bowls into it to be cleaned. I turned our head one last time to watch him as he stood doing chores in our cave, incongruously decked out in a plaid cowboy shirt, busted up wranglers, and plain black boots. His bald head caught the dim light from the luminescent rock just right, casting a white sheen on his crown. He looked older and weary as he hummed the theme song to The Lone Ranger under his breath.

  Kal’s chin snapped up as if he could feel our eyes and their consideration. Cass backed us the rest of the way out of the tunnel and into our room. In seconds the humming began again but this time it was something we didn’t recognize. Our environment seemed too close. At times, even though it wasn’t painted white or filled with sterile worn furniture it reminded us too much of our Warp Faction prison cell. Today was one of those days. The surface was out mainly because it was too dangerous and all of the entry arches would be sealed by now. There really wasn’t anywhere we could go besides the bathing caverns and Lil would be hurt if we went without her.

  I stomped with lead weighted feet over to the brown cloth covered chair that was large enough for us to sit sideways and rest our toes on the armrest. Cass scooted us around until we were entrenched and arched our neck until the knobby part on the back of our skull was comfortable. Our most common escape on nights like these was the Web. We tried valiantly to give one another privacy when it was required but if either of us felt an intense emotion it was hard to disguise when we were both in the infinite mindscape at the same time.

  James was already waiting for my twin; all cool, calm green, like his eyes. I wasn’t invited to that conversation and I didn’t want to be. She was most likely going to vent to him about me anyway. I wasn’t opposed to the stress relief for Cass, but I secretly wished for the same option just to even the playing field. The truth was I didn’t feel trapped by her at all. She was a comfort. Our fights made me feel more alive and connected to the physical world. The pain of feeling unwelcome nagged at me but I shoved it away and trampled the emotion until it was just a faint worry for another day.

  My thoughts wandered to the Bindao and what it could mean for us. Since I wasn’t the dominant twin and Cass held the lion’s share of our body DNA-wise, did I even have the right to a ‘normal’ relationship? Would it be rape for Cass if I met and loved someone in the future? Would she consent?

  I really hadn’t thought past some idle banter with my sister about having children. Jokingly I had said all we needed was a sperm donor but inwardly I had wondered about all the same things any girl did. Being the way we were, could we love and could the people we loved cope with us being in one body? If one of us had to step aside I felt like it should be me. I was less rooted in the ‘real’ world than my twin. That was changing day to day as our relationship matured and overcame the years I’d hidden of her memories out of necessity. Trust was slow with us because of my high-handed manipulations but I couldn’t really regret them. We were alive.

  My mind’s eye relaxed and soaked in the oceans of entities floating near and far. I wouldn’t have an answer in this moment for any of my worries so I left them tucked away. Consciously I stretched a piece of myself out to ‘taste’ the unseen currents fluctuating around the representation of my essence. Something tickled like a feather beckoning us closer.

  With subtle questing streams I followed the call. Force, like the suction of a drain, yanked us onward at a frighteningly fast pace. I tried to fight it. The harder I pulled away the quicker I traveled. Used to feeling confident and all powerful in the Web I failed to reach out to my twin and alert her to my distress. An all-encompassing light flared around me as if I were in the center of another’s essence. Impressions of colors swirled around me like fireflies—too fast to pin down. There was possibly orange and then yellow but then it disappeared.

  I couldn’t feel Cass at all. Strangely I wasn’t worried. A detachment from my emotions took hold and settled in like the calm when we imagined our mirrored lake together, only I was alone. Well, maybe I was and maybe I wasn’t. Experimentally I concentrated on extricating myself from the blinding illumination around me. It felt like I was immersed in a heatless conflagration. Currents swirled and caressed me playfully as I batted them away. I thought with firmness, “Stop.”

  Surprise wafted at me as if I’d startled the light. Slowly in halting English a rough male voice said, “This is not a dream?”

  Irritation pricked at my aura of serenity as I recognized the voice. “No Butthead, it isn’t. What’s the big idea calling me here? Why are we all mixed together?”

  A feeling of dawning horror swamped us like a tsunami and at the very same time we said, “Bindao.”

  The fawning currents around us stilled and we could feel it as Mez tried to release us without success. Angry, I renewed my struggles. This shouldn’t be an issue. It was mind over matter in the Web. You are where you think you are when you think it. Why wasn’t it working?

  “Aetstandan!”

  At that exclamation, which I actually understood, I stopped as requested. In my mind I pictured two dogs panting and eyeing one another over a bone. We felt evenly matched. There had to be a better way to go about this. I thought of Maggie’s braid analogy to describe Weavers. The Trinity was mind, body, and soul all woven together. Maybe if I concentrated on one piece of myself at a time instead of pulling on the whole gaseous tangle then we could coalesce into our respective Web selves? Mez caught the idea and accepted it.

  Instead of flopping around like flies trapped in a spider’s silken home we moved with care and intent. It resembled a dance by the end; a virtual tango with a beautiful intoxicating rhythm. I took a moment to really ‘see’ Mez. He was yellow with a transparent faint orange core. A child’s drawing of Earth’s sun sprang to mind and I blurted, “You look like happiness.”

  Embarrassment might have been expected but that wasn’t what we received. Confidence lapped at our edges.

  “And you look like adventure.”

  His English words seemed more natural this time. A peaceful drifting followed as we basked next to one another enjoying the sensation of being together but apart.

  After a moment Mez asked, “What do we do?”

  Lazily I nudged
him to see what would happen. “About?”

  He pushed back, playful. “You know what, Silver.”

  Thoughtfully I condensed my essence then stretched out, reaching for my twin. For the first time ever I wasn’t sure if I would find her. I could feel a faint echo of her being and she didn’t seem worried about me. Cass was deep in conversation with James but I gave her a tug.

  It was heartening how fast she came to my side. One moment she was distant like a memory and the next she with me like always and very concerned.

  “What did you do, Silver?”

  Mez flung out defensiveness in a solar flare. “My Leoght Cor did nothing wrong. Annis has plans that defy explanation. Question her, Sustor Cor.”

  Whip-fast Cass deflected his loop of light and pushed it back into the rippling drifting yellow of his surface. “I didn’t ask you, Butthead. This is an ‘A’ and ‘B’ conversation so ‘C’ your way out of it.”

  Something dawned. I could see my twin quite easily. I wasn’t a ghosting piece of myself looking at the rest of our essence joined. I was actually fully separated. Well, besides the tether of our attachment like a normal sister would be. As soon as Cass thought the same thought our beings began to draw together like oil bubbles clumped in water.

  Mez was astonished. “Is this how you normally are?”

  Suddenly I was embarrassed.

  He caught the feeling and bowed himself outward in an explosion of contrition. “I only meant to ask because I am curious, not because I find anything about what and who you are repulsive.”

  Cass asked, “How are you speaking English so well mind to mind? You always use a translator at the Hub, Mez, and what did you call us earlier?”

  It was Mez’s turn to be embarrassed.

  “Leoght Cor is an honorary for one’s Bindao. It means Light Heart. Kal has been teaching me to speak English in secret so that I can be an Agent on Earth. My greatest dream is to watch a fledgling world of Annis’ children evolve and waken. My mother does not wish that path for me.” The last words were harsh with bitterness, turning his faint orange core to a shining topaz.

  Mental voice hard, I spat back, “You’ve been playing a part all this time? Why torture us then? That’s taking it a little far don’t you think?”

  Cass stilled at the accusation in my voice, pleased that I was still able to think for myself in spite of my new bond with Mez.

  His words brought to mind a sad eyed puppy as he said, “It was our Uncle’s idea. I thought you knew. I only helped with the Atrium stunt and then just to make sure you were going to survive.” Mez paused for effect. “I would not have let you fall.”

  Ire swirled inside like a chemical reaction. Cass was worse off; her surprised betrayal at Kal’s involvement was more akin to a nuclear reaction. Emulating Flotsam and Jetsam I tried to argue for calm. “Sister, you know Kal must’ve had reasons. A deeper game is being played than anything we can see in the day to day. Does it surprise you that he would keep his own counsel, really?”

  Cass exploded. “Reasons our ass, Sister! Kal’s supposed to be the one person we can count on and now we can’t. If there’s a plan we need to know in the moment, not find out after the dang fact! I swear to God or Annis or whoever, I’m punching him in the nose!”

  We all drifted lost in our thoughts after her angry outburst. Mez was afraid to fuel the fire with another comment that might be yet another tidbit of information our guardian had kept from us.

  “So, Mez, should we tell Kal about the, uh, you know. Can anyone know besides us? Fid Tal’s gonna flip her lid when she finds out about, um, what’s happened.” I was reluctant to say Bindao for some reason. With Cass and I joined again I wasn’t feeling quite as copacetic about being bound to anyone else.

  Mez reached for Kal in answer.

  I shouldn’t have been able to sense him do it. Cass stroked me with a ghostly imagined finger. A trap of outside sensations was impinging upon my sense of self.

  “You okay, Silver?”

  If I didn’t get away I was going to scream. The Web had always been my refuge and joy—sometimes a lonely joy but still my domain for the most part. Now this Bindao that I didn’t choose was taking away my sense of control. All the parts of me felt as if they might vibrate apart and dissipate into vapor so fine I might as well cease to exist. Probably for the first time ever, I fled to the world of the physical to escape.

  Our lids lifted heavy with our body’s relaxation. The room blurred for just a moment and our eyes flipped rapidly through the light spectrum as they adjusted to the low light level. A rustle from the bed made me jerk upright, instantly ready to defend against attack.

  Kal stopped picking at the sole of his boot and leaned both hands, palm down on our now wrinkled covers.

  “I would speak with you.”

  His voice was soft as if to apologize for our startlement. Without waiting for a nod of consent Kal continued.

  “I dreamed. My visions are not always true or exact but some are stronger than others. It is apparent you feel yourself to be less than your sibling and you are not. Annis has made you a path that will force you to live fully, Silver.” He stood, looking down his rounded nose. “Now I must go counsel my nephew. Life will go as it will go and not as you or I would have it.”

  “My sister dreams, I don’t, Kal. Are you referring to the Bindao?”

  “The very same.” Kal’s fingers curled as he tucked his thumbs in his front jean pockets.

  “It doesn’t seem to have made your life happy. There’re consequences.”

  “That is true of everything, though, is it not?”

  Kal turned toward the oblong tunnel out of our warren with a serene expression.

  “Speaking of consequences—fair warning to you—Cass is mad about you keeping us in the dark. She proclaimed to us she’s going to punch you in the nose. I’d let her ambush you but I’m afraid we’ll get hurt and then I’ll have to use too much energy to heal us. I’m not drinking fermented wog juice again.” I wrinkled our nose in disgust and pantomimed scraping our tongue with our fingernails.

  He smiled, sharp teeth exposed. “I appreciate your concern for your wellbeing.”

  Alone for the moment I listened to Kal’s steps fade away. Did I think of myself as less than Cassandra? Was I afraid she viewed me as an inconvenient squatter to be worked around? If I thought of myself that way no one could change that but me.

  Tired of the introspection and craving something mundane to distract me I stood and peeled off our school robes. Tomorrow was a new day. I would worry tomorrow. Cass would be back soon to sleep so I decided to get us ready for bed. We usually slept in the doctored taupe robe Zik had jerry-rigged for us on our first day. Made from a fine weave of silky soft heavy cloth it was warm and comfortable. I plucked our hairbrush from the small basket of toiletries on the floor, sat on the bed to tuck our feet under the covers for warmth, and began to brush our hair. The feel as our tresses slid between the digits of our free hand was cool then rough as the ends slipped through. The flexible wog tail bristles scratched our scalp pleasantly and I felt like I entered a trance.

  My thoughts went from words to pictures to memories. The lab sprang to mind in crystalline detail. I could see the porous gray walls and I imagined Sil still working, hunched over his screens mumbling to himself. Zik would be in the background doing some menial necessary task that Sil would never remember to do. Randomly the urge to empty our bladder hit me and just for fun—because the images in my head were so real—I decided to use their facilities before I got up in real life. The bottom of our stomach dropped out and then I was inside the closet that housed the volcano toilet. The dome opened for me to sit and I smelled the unmistakable scent of burning waste and a hint of ozone.

  This was real. Tentatively our hand reached out of its own volition to touch the smooth wall. I could feel the beads of sweat gathering at the bends of our elbows and knees in reaction. When I turned our body the rustle of cloth on skin made it surreal. With
a flat palm I pushed on the doors. They opened soundlessly into a very dim, unoccupied lab.

  Sil and Zik weren’t here. The space was forlorn and haunted without anyone in attendance. Sil’s good humor and curiosity were absent. His work area was just unoccupied straight lines and sterile surfaces. The shadows lay in angular rows, quietly advertising stillness.

  A bubble of excitement swelled in our gut. We had teleported. We could teleport! Not only that, but somehow the DNA protocols had been bypassed. I immediately reached for my twin but then thought better of it. What if she was still in the Web with Kal and Mez? How secret should we keep this development?

  Nerves zinging with possibility I closed our eyes and thought of our bed. I brought every detail to light that I could remember until it felt like I’d made a virtual copy in my mind’s eye. The little nobs of snagged threads here and there on our blankets sprang up into focus. When I thought I’d made it as real as I possibly could, I felt the jump.

  The first thing I saw was our pale calves resting on top of the covers. I wiggled our toes and felt their sides rub against one another. The air was redolent with ozone. If Kal came in he was going to smell it and know. A faint fatigue lapped at me like a whisper of heat on a cold day. Just to think for a moment I laid our head on the pillow and took a deep satisfied breath.

  Then for the first time in my memory—I fell asleep.

  Chapter Eleven: Bent out of Shape

  Midnight blue stars flashed across a diamond hard sky and I felt myself fall. I landed on the mirrored lake Cass and I so often imagined but this time I fell through. Frantically my essence scrabbled for purchase as I sank like a gold coin into the nothingness. With a jolt I settled. A featureless void spread out before me in which hollowness resounded. A lighthouse glint shone far off, drawing me with the lure of safety. As I came upon it the outline formed into Mez’s beautiful yellow and orange. Words that weren’t words but merely the suggestion of them sang into a thought of my own.