CHANGELING: Book Two in the Weaver Series Read online

  I answered, “He’s not, but we still are. Can you send someone to get us food please?”

  Fid Tal sneered in response, “I am not your servant, nor will I ever be, Ellorgaest. I addressed my progeny, not you.”

  Cass nudged Mez in the side with an elbow when his features gathered into an expression of fury. My sister gave a head shake and relaxed against Mez’s thickly muscled arm as if she were completely at home. We were making strides; after all, Tal hadn’t called us ‘it’—we’d been upgraded to ‘alien’, which was at least an improvement over a pronoun. I could feel our left eye twitch on the outside and one cheek mound as my twin smiled.

  Cass’s words were finely controlled and delivered in a nonchalant tone. “Mez is fine—he knows how to take care of himself. Can you request sustenance as a first aid measure or would you rather your only child be bound to a cripple for life?” Our lips widened in an insincere close-mouthed grin.

  Sil, now conscious, yelled from across the lab, “My Fid, I would speak with you a moment…please.”

  Fid Tal leaned in close. She bared her teeth and snapped them as if she truly were the large feline her mannerisms sometimes mimicked. “You should be mindful of your place, Ellorgaest. It would be unfortunate if Baelc managed to succeed in escorting you to your death—very unfortunate. Some might mourn,” her head cocked toward Mez and then toward her guards where they watched over Zik’s tagged, prone form, “but most would not.”

  Cass suppressed the urge to lash out physically. We weren’t in any shape for it anyway.

  Her Highness straightened and focused on Mez. Face molded into an expression of concern Tal said, “You must see how much danger these ones bring you. Come home with me where you can be protected.”

  Sil called out again, “My Fid?”

  Mez kept his expression locked down and his eyes aimed at nowhere. Arms straight as if her elbows had forgotten they were a joint, Fid Tal stiffened and disappeared to reappear beside Sil. The ozone scent had a hint of heat to it. We could smell the conflict between mother and son.

  Cass looked down at our fingers and sighed. “Silver, I don’t suppose you could at least heal one hand without us passing out?”

  It was worth a try to assess the damage at least. We hated being vulnerable or dependent on anyone. “Let me check it out, Sister. I’ll be back in a sec.”

  The awareness of our body faded as if I were a bird and someone had thrown a cover over my cage. As soon as my inner eye opened, its vision was obscured by the hearth fire presence of Maggie. Heatless tongues of flame caressed our Web essence as my aunt checked us over.

  “What is going on? Cass sent some strong signals and then they just stopped. Are you okay?” Maggie’s emotions were catapulting outward in glowing embers as if they might sling shot away and carry on forever.

  I tried valiantly not to be irritated. “We’re fine, Maggie, or at least we will be. Somebody tried to kill us again. Obviously they didn’t succeed but they sliced our hands pretty good. I need to do a damage assessment and then see what I can do. You’re welcome to tag along if you don’t distract me.” The two white yolks of our soon to be cousins were glowing nicely as if feeding off the richness of Maggie’s pulsating cocoon of protective flame.

  Near panic she screeched, “Again?! Who’s been trying to kill you and how many times? Do I need to get Gerome?”

  This woman was wasting my time.

  “I heard that, Young Lady!”

  Smack my head. “Do you want to see or not, Maggie?” I felt it when her curiosity won out. “You know how to split off a probe right?” She sent a spear of ‘oh please’ along with a smoldering comma of herself. I caught it and turned my thoughts to our injured digits.

  Perhaps because I had previously begun the process of healing, the image jumped up without much coaxing. Maggie winced at our side then donned the cap of doctor not aunt.

  She asked, “Those wounds look defensive, something sharp but flexible like wire sliced to the bone. Where do you begin? Inside out of course but you’re not telekinetic so how do you make the ends of tissue meet? I can see the sutures on some tendons. Whoever it was did good work—very neat.”

  It was nice to have a witness to what I could do besides my twin. Cass didn’t really want to know the intricacies of the how, as long as it got done. “I grow the tissue together and then smooth everything out—otherwise it’s lumpy and leaves a scar. See here,” I zoomed in on the muscle, “I encourage healthy replication.” It was almost like knitting. Before I knew it our right hand was done. The left still waited but our reserves were getting low and as much fun as this was with company, I needed to stop. I pulled back reluctantly and the piggybacking spark of my aunt zipped home. Respect hit me from her direction.

  Maggie said, “Thank you, dear, for letting me see you work.”

  She paused and I sensed a ‘but’ coming so I supplied it verbally. “But?” I had to admit she really was making a decent attempt to contain her emotions. It was probably even harder with all the pregnancy hormones flooding her body.

  Maggie drifted until she wasn’t as close. “Don’t get mad, but are you girls going to be okay? Does Gerome know how dangerous it’s been on Axsa? I know you share with him more than me and that’s okay, really. I just need to know you’ll be alright.”

  “At this point you probably know more than your husband does. Feel free to rub it in.” I thought hard. “We’ll be okay, Maggie. Things are a little intense, but they’ll calm down.”

  Cass tugged at me and my aunt sensed it.

  Solemnly she said, “I’d like to learn from you, Silver. Would you let me accompany you again sometime?”

  I considered and truly mulled it over before I said, “That would be…nice.” This was weird. “Cass is calling, I’ve gotta go.”

  “Take care, dear.”

  When I rejoined my twin she was staring down at a jiggling plate of canary yellow snot. Fid Tal had brought us food but she’d made sure it was something we wouldn’t enjoy. If we were so below her notice why in the world had she bothered to take note of our eating habits? What a bitch on wheels! Our reserves were too low to wait for anything else, though.

  Cass tried not to puke as she thought, “I can’t, Silver. You do it.”

  I used our finger to poke the gelatinous mass. At least it was cold, not hot. If it had been a steaming or even room temperature serving of bogey goo, I’d have chosen to pass out rather than consume it. Mez was standing by the chair next to Sil’s desk and the plate was in front of us, just waiting.

  He gave an encouraging bright smile. “Waeta is a special treat. It takes many hours to prepare. Have you not had it before?”

  I shook our head, not trusting us to say anything that wouldn’t hurt his feelings. With two crooked fingers on our healed hand I scooped out a glob and put it in our mouth. Cass wimped out and fled to the Web before it completely crossed our lips—the traitor. I swallowed without tasting anything. After it was down, a zesty, clean sweetness coated our tongue. The second bite I rolled around experimentally and the fresh addicting flavor hooked me. I finished the tasty slime in five more bites. It helped if I pretended it was Jell-O.

  Mez gave us a back pat, “Good, yes?”

  I took stock of our reserves. Not only did waeta not taste terrible, it packed an energy punch. If we ate that at every meal, we’d be fat in a week—holy smokes. Cass popped back in along with a torrent of contrition.

  “Was it that bad, Sister?”

  If she’d been in charge of our body our eyes would have been squinted to slits as she anticipated a righteous butt chewing. I decided to have mercy. “It wasn’t bad at all, actually. I’ve got enough juice now to take care of the other hand and then some. We may need to ask Kal to keep some around.”

  “I’ll take your word for it. I’ve got this if you want to finish us up, Silver.”

  “Oh, now you’ve ‘got this’, huh?”

  “What can I say? Everybody has limits. Eating congeale
d mucous is mine. Go fix our hand and shut up.”

  The Web was minus Maggie’s overpowering essence when I returned and I was almost sad about not having an audience. There was no joy of sharing knowledge this time—I was all business and done in a matter of moments. A feeling of relief pinged into my awareness from Cass once we were whole again and that would have to be reward enough. I synced into our body just as Sil finished examining our hands. His skin was so dark there wasn’t any bruising apparent on his jawline although it was swollen. We had questions Sil needed to answer.

  Cass sensed my need and seconded it. Scanning the room I noticed Flotsam, Jetsam, and Zik were absent. My twin sent the memory that Zik had been taken to a holding cell to await further treatment. Cass had witnessed Sil tell Fid Tal he didn’t know of a way to remove Kai’s influence from Zik’s mind and until they could figure it out he would have to remain quarantined.

  Mez was a few feet away, leaning against the side of the regeneration table with his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest. Her Highness was mirroring him from mere inches away. She was taller by less than a foot and her son’s shoulders were already wider. With her face serene she looked younger and approachable.

  Cass laughed at that thought. “Yeah right, Silver. Her Highness lit into Mez and when he stood up for himself, she hissed that he had no manners to air their blood business in the presence of strangers. They’ve been standing like that for a while now. Your super special boyfriend needs to grow some balls, quick.”

  I gave my twin a mental shove—hard. “Let him sort it out, Cass. We need to grill Sil while no one is here to listen in.”

  I turned our attention back to Sil, who was sitting next to us at his desk, looking over his instruments with a vacant, far away expression—not really seeming to seeing anything. The new skin on our fingers felt sensitized as I curled and uncurled them in our lap. “Sil, why can Kai take over another’s mind? How is that possible and what does it have to do with you? I understand why Baelc might want us dead for our interference, but why did they try to kill you our first day here? That strike wasn’t about us.”

  His ebony cheeks dropped and his full lips went slack. “I cannot speak of it.”

  Cass breathed through our nose and curled our lips in between our front teeth in an effort to curb our joint frustration. She chose our next words carefully. “I understand if you’ve taken an oath or something but haven’t we seen enough for you to give us more of an explanation than that? We’re involved whether we want to be or not, Sil.”

  Sil put his forehead in both palms and his hair slid like a coarse curtain to conceal his emotions. In a jerky, stop motion set of movements he dropped his hands from his face and scooted his chair in front of ours. Cold fingers clasped ours in a gentle but firm hold. Sil closed his eyes as if in the grip of unseen forces that were tearing him apart.

  Words tumbled out in a rush. “This is my fault. Kai, Kal, Zik and this revolution are all my doing. The Elders wanted to awaken certain genetic paths that had been suppressed after the Great Wars and I agreed to make the attempt. There were violent gifts the Aniy possessed that peace could not countenance so they were bred away. As a people we have grown static and The Elders fear Annis is displeased with us. Two Agents were assigned as subjects—you can guess who they were.”

  He opened his eyes and they bored into us with intense scrutiny. I couldn’t just be silent or still and Cass wanted to melt through the chair back and away. “So you played God and it backfired on you? That’s not the first time in the history of probably any sentient species’ history, Sil. Earthling’s built bombs strong enough to wipe out life on the whole planet but refuse to disarm them lest their enemies get to use them first. We poison our planet with trash and chemical waste all in the name of convenience. Don’t take it so hard.”

  Sil blinked and squeezed our hands uncomfortably tight. “I should not have tried to change the grand design. Kal’s gifts are relatively benign. He can detect when other Aniy have bent light around them and he is an expert at concealing his essence from other minds. All of his talents are defensive in nature. I would consider him my one success. Kai is my doomed malignant legacy and a mistake I will likely die trying to rectify. It is only fitting because of the pain and loss I have caused.”

  Turning our wrists, I escaped the clawed cage of Sil’s fingers. We’d had enough of his self-recriminations. “Skip the morose drama and pity party shit, Sil. Why does Baelc want you dead?”

  Sil’s empty hands retreated to cup his bent knees through his robe. He shifted closer causing his many-pocketed vest to sway with the weight of its contents and bump into his arms. “If I am dead, memories of my life’s work will go to my Guild for safekeeping. Baelc may access my work with leisure if my brethren’s ranks are compromised as I suspect they are or will be. Kai would kill me and find a way to keep the knowledge for his own uses. Baelc would attempt to make better, saner versions of Kai to control Axsa. While I live, I have shared my methods with no one, nor will I.”

  Cass asked, “Why not just erase the memory? You guys were so hot to scramble our brain and send us packing to Earth when we got here. Why not just use it on yourself and make sure nobody can ever replicate your research?”

  A single tear escaped to sit in a bubble of tension by the bridge of his nose as if it were a smoothly rounded diamond. Sil curled the fingers of one hand into a fist and pressed the knuckle of his thumb into his closed lips. His head shook side to side as if he were battling his own mind.

  I tugged on Sil’s wrist. “Tell us why that wouldn’t work?”

  Cass asked me, mental voice hesitant, “Can’t you do it, Silver? Do you think that’s why their memory wipe didn’t penetrate? You took parts of my life away—and I never even knew.”

  Sil wove his neck so sinuously he resembled a swaying snake. “The apparatus only works on superficial or recent occurrences. Memories become embedded in our being. For instance, you do not likely remember being born but everything in you knows it, that feeling is not something that can be expunged. At any rate, it is not a precise method and there are other parts of my research that I am not willing to part with so easily.”

  Answering our question had grounded Sil’s nerves at least. Cass stirred, uncomfortable with the topic, and took over our mouth.

  “How does Shiva, I mean Kai, take over another mind? What did you do to him? Why didn’t he just roll you and not Zik?” Cass was talking fast like her words were running from something.

  A short sharp sound, like a finger snap, came from the area by the regeneration module. Fid Tal pointed a needle sharp nail at Sil. “You will cease speaking, Guild Master.” She aimed her talon at us. “You will share this information with no one or I will see to it that The Elders are made aware of this breach. The rest of your stay on Axsa can be in a containment cell as far as I am concerned. It would bring me pleasure to send you back where you belong, Ellorgaest.”

  Mez walked in front of his mother, brushing against her extended arm and interrupting her proclamation. “Are you in such a hurry to be rid of me then, Modor? Where my Leoght Cor goes, so do I.” He sat on the edge of Sil’s desk and hooked his thumbs in his waist sash.

  Sil scooted his chair over and shooed Mez away from his work area, ruining his show of defiance. Cass wondered what Kal was up to at the moment. We’d been given instructions though, so we were going to follow them.

  I spoke. “Vel is expecting us in Denu, Mez.”

  Her Highness hissed then strode closer. The wind of her charge made the blousy white shirt hug her biceps and breasts and she moved. “You are not safe away from me. I insist you accompany me to our Clanet, Mez. We can protect you, not the Imini.”

  He rubbed underneath his chin with the back of a hand and then dropped his arm to his side. The stiff formality was absent and for someone so young Mez looked tired. “No, Modor.”

  Ozone flared in a wispy scent explosion off to our right. Kal straightened the lapels on his duster
and Fid Tal’s lips twisted in a bloom of derision.

  She clicked her teeth. “They gave you clearance without my permission?”

  Kal ducked his head in answer. Fid Tal was gone in an instant, the argument with her son forgotten at the evidence of her weakening authority. Mez lifted a chin in greeting to his uncle.

  Sil threw an arm over the back of his chair, turning at the waist to better see Kal. “So, you are my new minder?”

  Our guardian’s words were clipped. “For now.”

  Chapter Twenty: An Unraveling

  Kal took us out of the lab and back to Denu, or at least pretended to, because we really did it on our own with Mez in tow. The entrance arches to Denu always seemed haunted and deserted as if we’d encountered an abandoned civilization’s leavings or a gateway to another dimension. The Imini mostly exited from the side of the mountain to the surface. It was an ancient nod to the annals of the past for them to leave access points for their Aniy visitors. Traditions would likely change in light of recent violent events. Cass felt a miniscule amount of guilt, as if we were guests that had brought pestilence and war on a peaceful populace like a second coming of Columbus to the Americas.

  I squashed that line of thought before it led to disaster, afraid it would cause her to seek desperate measures to atone. “Cool your jets, Cass. We just got through chewing on Sil for pulling the weight of the world around his ears—don’t you take up the habit.”

  Cass put a lock on her emotions and thrust outward like the blade on a snowplow. “I can feel however I like and think what I want, Silver. What are you going to do—erase the memory of that thought just because you don’t agree with it?”

  Mez and Kal were staring at us. I wondered how many expressions had flashed across our face as Cass and I switched back and forth without effort. I felt like ice cold water had been poured over my mind. “That’s not what I meant and I already promised you I would never take another memory without your permission. I keep my word, Cass. What’s this really about?”