“And if there were a living telepath,” I cut in, “they would be among the powerful in this country. But why would Vega be cursing at Imandr's partner that night?”

  “The miserable miscreation line,” Atlas said, rubbing his chin. “It’s been bothering me, too.”

  A long silence settled over us.

  “The mystery deepens, I guess.” Axle spoke up first. “But I've got a few more noteworthy pieces of information.”

  “Maybe it'll help glue all of this together,” Fena said, nodding at him. “Lay it on us.”

  “I can say with a degree of confidence that Vega, Rowan, and Huede are investigating for a different reason than the rest of them.”

  “A different reason?” I prodded. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, it was like you thought,” he responded. “Headmasters Alrune, Norah, Edwin, and Anther were relaxed. I found it difficult to catch a snippet of their inner dialogues. Vega, Rowan, and Huede dominated the mental conversation. They were worried. Worried that whoever was in the hallway that night saw something they called the procession.”

  “The procession?” asked Fena. “As in a funeral procession?”

  “I didn't get enough context,” Axle said, “but there are different kinds of processions.”

  “Like festival processions,” I spoke up. “Or processions as part of old ceremonies. I was reading an interesting book this afternoon about the old gods of this planet. Each of them demanded of the people an annual procession of worship.”

  “Eh?” Atlas cocked his head. “I've never heard of that.”

  “Worship,” Axle said, deep in thought. “I heard that word twice among the three of them, but it never added up. You think they were talking about the worship of an old god?”

  “But,” Fena broke in, “that would be heresy.”

  “Indeed,” Atlas's eyes rose to meet mine. “That would give them a motive.”

  “A reason to kill whoever might have seen the procession,” Fena said, as she and Axle looked at me.

  All three watched me with worried expressions. “Maybe we're jumping to conclusions,” Axle said.

  “I don't think we are,” I said, folding my arms. “In fact, I’d say we’re on the right track.”

  “Gill?” asked Atlas. “What's going on? Did you find something out?”

  “I think I did,” I answered. “Do you all remember when we were all in my room for the first time—right after the night I was chased through the halls? I told you Tovin killed me, but it was a long story, and I would explain it to you later. Well, it's later. It's time to tell you guys about the creature.”

  “The creature?” Fena asked, her eyes full of wonder. “Story time. Now.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “When Tovin killed me that first time, I was surrounded by an inky blackness that was both calming and terrifying. An eye opened and settled on me. I was so scared I couldn't speak, couldn't move. Then there were many. Eyes opened all around its body, not pairs of eyes. Just...eyes.”

  I took a deep breath and let my arms fall to my sides. “Some of them moved together—oscillating around the main eyeball. But all of them stayed trained on me as though they belonged to the same creature. It's so hard to describe. I've tried thinking of better ways to explain, but I can't.”

  “Gill,” Atlas spoke up, moving through the water until he was by my side. “That time, outside of Headmaster Alrune's office. When you asked me if I saw anything unusual when I died...was this what you meant?”

  I nodded.

  “Gill, are you serious?” Fena asked, moving closer to me. “You poor thing,” she said as she wrapped her fingers around my hand beneath the water.

  I squeezed.

  “He's serious,” Axle assured them. “I've heard you before, Gill. Thinking about eyes. Darkness. A creature. I've wanted to ask, but it never seemed right. Why have you been hiding this?”

  “I…I didn't hide it from you on purpose,” I explained, trying to stay focused as Fena cradled my hand in hers. “It just never came up. But now...”

  “Now what?” Atlas asked. “Do you think that creature pertains to the investigation somehow?”

  “That's kind of a leap,” said Fena.

  “Maybe so,” I looked at her, “but I think he's right.”

  “Gill, what's going on?” Axle asked.

  I explained everything. How the headmasters tried to pin the situation at the bistro on me, how Tovin covered for me by killing me, and how I had my second run-in with the many-eyed monster.

  “You're telling me all of that happened today?” Fena yelled, splashing water at me. “Gill!”

  “I'm only now realizing that your bruise is gone,” Axle said, inspecting my cheek. “How could you keep all of that to yourself until now? I guess that explains what you were doing in the conference room today.”

  “That's a lot to carry all on your own,” Atlas chimed in. “You should have told us sooner.”

  “I figured I'd wait until we were together again,” I said. “It's a long story, and it’s not done.”

  “Be not afraid.” Atlas repeated the phrase. “Can you be certain that's what it said to you?”

  I explained my trip to the library. How Corrin and I searched for the quote and found that the information had been obfuscated in every way short of outright destroying the book.

  “There's an old deity called Galgalim, the Source of All,” I announced.

  “Gal-guh-lim?” Axle sounded it out.

  “That's right,” I said. “And that's about all I know about it. That and...”

  “What?” Atlas inquired.

  “I think Galgalim is the deity I've been seeing in the afterlife.”

  “I'd be...careful about where you say that,” Fena warned, letting go of my hand. “The old gods aren't worshiped anymore. Heresy is one of the few things punishable by immediate execution.”

  “I'm not technically worshiping an old god,” I said, defending myself.

  “Just acknowledging an old god's existence in any way that suggests it's not wholly mythological,” Atlas cautioned, “is absolutely grounds for being declared a heretic.”

  “Hahnahkordia, Atebe, and Olwoh,” Axle said, “are the only gods considered to be old gods that are still worshiped in Galgia. Listen to us, man. This is no joke. We could be killed along with you for having a conversation like this.”

  “There's nobody around,” I said. “You said it yourself.”

  “We're just letting you know that this conversation never happened,” Fena looked around at the three of us. “And it never will again. From this point forward. Promise me.”

  There was no way I was about to stop chasing this lead now, not after all the time I had spent searching for answers. “I promise…Never to speak the name Galgalim. I'll call it the monster. Can we still talk about it if I do that?”

  A brief silence, and then Atlas nodded. “I think that's sufficient. If anyone asks, you could say you’re writing a book.”

  “Sure,” Axle smiled. “I'm on board with that.”

  “Okay,” Fena surrendered. “I suppose there's no harm in that. I'm willing to be expelled for you, Gill, but I'm not willing to die for anyone but my brother.”

  “That's super fair,” I conceded. “Thanks, you guys.”

  “So let me put this all together then,” Axle said, lifting himself out of the water and sitting on the edge of the walkway. “The working theory is that Vega, Huede, and Rowan are all heretics worshiping a monster late at night on school grounds?”

  “And Vega was telepathically speaking with the inquisitor that night?” Atlas asked, glancing around at us.

  “That's why the inquisitor was here in the first place,” Fena folded her arms. “To investigate heresy.”

  “Of which, had I witnessed any of it,” I said, “could have implicated the participating headmasters in a crime punishable by death...”

  After a long silence, all of us sighed.

  “Nah,” we all said at once.

  Even Axle shook his head, and he believed in moon people. The pieces didn’t fit tightly enough together. If the inquisitor was on official business looking into whispers of heresy, then he would be working with the heretics.

  “Well...” Axle said, “I'll keep my mind open for fleeting thoughts from the headmasters.”

  “I'll keep turning this around in my head too,” said Atlas.

  “We’ve got a lot of information here for sure,” Fena concurred. “Any random clue could bring it all together. Maybe more can be found at the library.”

  “I put in an order for a new copy of the book,” I added. “I hope it'll come in without any torn-out pages.”

  Atlas looked at me, wide-eyed. “You…you did what?”

  I stared back. “I…put in a request with Corrin for a new copy of Galgian Prehistory II.”

  “Gill, someone is trying to keep that information out of peoples' hands,” Atlas pressed. “Don't you think that was a little risky?”

  “Well, at the time I didn't consider these two things to be connected,” I said, shrugging. “How could I have known?”

  “They still might not be,” Axle interjected. “We're making a lot of leaps in logic here.”

  “Also, I've met Corrin,” Fena spoke up. “He seems like a nice guy. I don't think he's in on the coverup if there is one.”

  “Well, the book wasn't in their system,” I said. “He said he'd have to go through the administrative head of the department to order a new copy, so—”

  “What?” Axle screamed.

  Atlas jumped.

  Fena stood up, her top coming loose in the process.

  Atlas yelled about his neck as Fena dove back into the water.

  Absolute pandemonium.

  I stood and balled my fists. “Wh-what’s the big idea screaming like that?” I yelled.

  “The big idea?” he yelled back incredulously.

  “Lower your voice!” I shouted.

  “I can’t!”

  “Why?” I hollered.

  “Vega runs that department, Gill!”

  “What?” I grabbed my head with both hands. “Since freaking when?”

  “This year,” he cried out, grabbing his face.

  I screamed in panic.

  He screamed in panic.

  “I saw my sister's boobs,” Atlas sobbed.

  “Everyone shut up!” Fena screamed over us as she fidgeted beneath the water. Her face was deep red. She eyed the three of us, “It's not that late. The library should still be open. Let's just get over there and cancel the request.”

  The bathhouse was silent, save for the sounds of our breathing.

  “If they are connected...” Axle broke the silence. “Then this couldn't get much worse.”

  “I agree,” Fena said, climbing out of the water. “The odds are low, but we can't take the risk,” she called back to us as she rounded the corner to the women's changing area.

  “All right, then,” Axle said. “That's the plan. Let's hope Corrin didn't submit that request yet,” he said as he reached down and helped Atlas out.

  “Gill, let's go,” Axle offered me his hand.

  I glanced at him sideways, “Why don't you give me a second...”

  “What?” His face assumed what I can only describe as the most disappointed one he could make at me. “Oh.”

  “Yeah.”

  “What's going on?” asked Atlas.

  “Nothing, he'll catch up,” Axle said, grabbing Atlas by the arm. “C'mon, let's get dressed.”

  “What? Hey, you’re hurting my arm!”

  The four of us made our way to the east wing’s main walkway. The sun had begun to set, and it illuminated the walkway up to the library’s large, ostentatious doors. It was far less crowded than it had been—desolate even.

  The doors echoed as they closed behind us.

  “I've never seen it this empty,” whispered Axle.

  “Me either,” Atlas said. “Not that I've been on campus for very long.”

  I didn't see Corrin or anyone for that matter. We walked across the massive room and stopped at the help desk.

  “Hello?” I called out.

  Nobody answered.

  “Did they close already?” Fena asked. “I've been in here later than this by an hour at least.”

  “On a Sunday?” Atlas asked as I walked around the desk. The drawer was locked, and the keys were missing. I didn’t know what was going on, but I didn’t like it. If it really was Vega trying to keep that book out of people’s hands, then ordering a copy of it would prove he was right to be worried about me; that I was investigating.

  “What are you doing?” Atlas hissed.

  “I was looking for the ledger,” I said, looking up at him. “The keys are gone so...”

  A tall, cloaked figure stood just inside the shadow of the shelves on the upper balcony at the far end of the library.

  I wouldn't have noticed, had it not had a magic signature that blazed like a star in the darkness. All I could do was open my mouth as I stared at the masked man—the same one who'd been waiting for me on the other side of the door to the east wing thoroughfare that night.

  Human or not—

  It was watching us.

  Twenty-Five

  “Gill?”

  “Hey, you okay?”

  “What's the matter with you?”

  Their voices sounded as though far away in the distance; I couldn’t turn away from the mass of magical energy on the balcony. I could just barely make out the contours of its mask against the darkness of the upper floor.

  Before I could gather the words together in my throat, Atlas followed my gaze to the balcony. Then Fena, and finally Axle. The four of us stared at it, speechless.

  Axle moved his arms in semicircles then clasped hands in the direction of the balcony.

  “Gill...” Fena whispered. “Is that the guy who chased you? The one with the mask?”

  “Yeah,” I said as quietly as I was able with my nerves on fire. “That's the one.”

  “Axle?” asked Atlas. “Does it…sound familiar? In your head?”

  He swallowed, “Y-yeah. It's the thing I heard that night. No doubt about it.”

  “What's it thinking?” I asked without moving my eyes.

  “It's the same,” he said. “Single sentences—commands it seems—in the same tone and inflection. Something like…Protect the algorithm. Break and retrieve. Protect the algorithm. And so on. Now that I'm hearing it again, I can say for certain…” His eyes were wide and glossy. “That thing is not human.”

  “Break…and retrieve?” murmured Atlas.

  Its magic began to swell within its chest. “Hey,” I warned. “Its magic is riling up. It's about to do something!”

  “Parameters. Four,” Axle spoke as it thought. “Consider retreat. Ejecting sleep agent. Assess results. Act accordingly.” Axle frowned. “What the he—”

  Before he could finish his sentence, it opened its cloak with a clank. Four projectiles shot from its chest, and, had it not been for the glint of a glass object headed my way, I wouldn’t have dodged it in time. I broke left as it whizzed past my arm.

  I fell to the floor, then scrambled to my knees.

  “What was that?” I screamed

  Fena and Axle slumped to the floor.

  Atlas stared at the syringe sticking out of his midsection, his face twisted up in fear and disbelief. He lifted his shaking hand and pulled the syringe out. He then searched around under his jacket and removed a pocket watch. Its face was cracked, and it leaked blue liquid.

  He looked down at Axle and Fena, and then up at the cloaked figure on the balcony.

  “Gill...” he asked. “Are…Are they...?”

  “N-no.” I cut him off. “Axle said the words sleep agent before the attack. I think…I think that thing meant to put us all to sleep.”

  “To retrieve us,” Atlas finished for me in a wavering voice. “Its odds weren't good against the four of us.”

  “But now...” I trailed off as it stepped out of the shadows and hopped over the balcony railing. It landed with a crash on the other side of the library, down the main walkway.

  “Parameters acceptable,” it said in a bone-chilling monotone voice just loud enough to be heard in the silence of the library.

  Axle was right; that was no human being. It was cold; alien in a way I couldn't describe.

  “At...las...” A voice so quiet that I almost didn’t notice it came from behind me. Fena’s eyes were slits and she was struggling to remain conscious. “Atlas…D-don't…lose…no matter...”

  With that, her head fell to the side, and her consciousness slipped away from her.

  “I promise,” he whispered back, tossing his busted pocket watch to the ground.

  Atlas looked different. Normally he was reserved, almost docile.

  But now...

  His intensity almost looked out of place. The scorn in his eyes sent a chill down my spine.

  I turned and faced the enemy with renewed vigor. Everything was riding on the two of us here. There was no telling where we'd end up if we let that thing drag us away.

  “Ha-ten!”

  My sword fell into my hand.

  “Atlas, get ready,” I said as I widened my stance.

  “Right,” he responded, his magic glowing within him.

  The cloaked figure started toward us across the long carpet, each footfall echoing around the room. Its arms surfaced, each a sharpened sickle, like a praying mantis. Some kind of energy hummed throughout its being as it broke into a sprint, and the humming grew louder as it drew nearer.

  “It can't kill you on school grounds,” Atlas called out. “It'll try to render us unconscious!”

  “Hence the sleeping agent,” I responded, connecting the dots as I moved in front of him. “I’ll take point. You look for an opening and fire away when you do. Don't worry about catching me in the blast either.”

  “You expect me to just hit you?” he asked.

  “If that's what it takes, then yes. The school will resurrect me when my heart stops, but I'd hazard a guess that whatever that thing is, it doesn't have a heart.”

  “…All right,” he conceded.

  “Don't miss, okay? I'm counting on you, Atlas.”

 

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