Dreamweaver, page 18
“Stay where you are!” I shouted to Dayja as I saw her running my way. “Dane, hold her!”
He obeyed me instantly, catching my sister around her torso with his arms, locking her to his chest despite her struggles to break free. I think she may have even tried to headbutt him, but it was difficult to tell in the shadows crawling every which way from their solarlights.
“Pay attention, moron!”
Cay’s warning was as unhelpful as it was unwanted. The essence gunned me straight in the chest, blowing me back off my feet, cleanly knocking the air from my body. Wishing for a solargun, I scraped myself to the side, rising to my knees. Tearing my hands through the seething mass of energy, I dug my fingers into it, holding it back as it tried to writhe its way for my head.
“Be dreams,” I told it, my words faint and gasping. My arms flickered with orange light as I tried to Harvest. “Be dreams!”
The essence roared in reply, furiously twisting from my grasp. The bones in my hands ached hideously as one by one, my fingers bent back. Then my left little finger gave, snapping under the pressure, and I clamped down on a scream. It was followed by my right middle finger buckling and agony raced through my nerves.
“Enea!” Cay was calling, waiting for me to say enough was enough, to turn the nightmares over to him. He could Harvest them, tuck them snugly away into his beads, no longer a threat to me.
“She can do it,” Dane shouted back, still struggling to hold Dayja. “Let her do it!”
“En,” my sister cried, reaching out for me. Tears wet her cheeks, glittering as they reflected her solarlight.
Figures moved beyond the violent storm of essence mixing with dirt and branches and stone; I caught a glimpse of the rest of the group. Dane passed Dayja to Aro, who cradled her to himself. Norie shook Cay’s arm, pointing my way, likely demanding that he intervene. Anessa shoved her back, forcing her to let go.
My left index finger snapped.
I could let Cay Harvest this.
Or I could give Moyan her dreams back.
I knew what it was like to be plagued by nightmares. Moyan had been suffering from them far longer than I had. I could free her of that burden and let her nights become peaceful again. I could give her what I didn’t have. Serenity.
“Rest,” I breathed out.
The essence around me fractured, shadows vanishing as a blast of color blossomed above, matching the intensity of the Harvesting glow coming from my arms. Dreams billowed out like a rainbow formed from thousands of fireflies.
Tears of pain pricked my eyes as I forced myself to move, drawing the essence down, filtering it into the beads I carried. My bracelet was warm and the beads in my hair hung heavy once more. When they were full, I directed the energy towards the others, coating them in a multitude of shades as I filled their essence beads.
One particle of dream remained, shimmering bright blue as it floated along languidly. My steps were heavy as I nudged it onward, through the broken window, over to the slumbering form it belonged to. Mayon had turned in her sleep. Her brow creased and a frown dragged at her mouth.
Holding out my arms, I winced as my broken fingers throbbed, but I made the essence drift down and down. It shimmered as it reached Mayon, caressing her face, smoothing the lines of concern she wore.
My knees promptly gave out on me, and I crumpled to the ground.
Dayja reached me first, splattering me with some of her tears as she dropped to my side. She helped me as I twisted around trying to sit up.
“Enea! Mírate las manos!” Norie hovered at Dayja’s elbow, and I was dismayed to see she was crying too.
“Hold still,” Dane instructed. His knee dug into my hip as he bent over me. His arms blazed as he began to Spin, carefully taking hold of my broken pinky and pulling it straight. “I’m sorry,” he added as I flinched at the terrible, sharp pain it caused.
“Is she still out?” I asked.
“She’s out,” Kenji confirmed from where he stood. “Think she’ll be mad her window is busted?”
“Who gives a shit about the window?” Dane moved on to the second broken finger, flicking a thumb over the beads in my hair to draw out essence.
“We will pay for the repairs,” Aro assured him. “I hardly think Mayon will complain about the window in return for having her nightmares taken away from her. Venny, do us a favor and check our perimeter, make sure no one woke up to our ruckus. Kenji, help him out.”
As Venny and Kenji nodded and loped into a run, I looked up as Cay crouched directly in front of me.
“So how did you do it?” he asked. “Despite Venny’s hopes, I couldn’t tell what made the turn happen. One moment I could feel it fighting to get to you and the next moment, it just… it…” His white knot of hair bobbed as he shook his head in frustration. “It just accepted. It gave in to you.”
“Do we have to discuss this now?” Anessa broke in crossly. “Or can we all get our solarbands and get the hell out of here before we are found? We still need to read whatever is on that archive.”
“There’s no discussion to be had, because I don’t have an answer for you yet,” I said to Cay. Gently, I withdrew my hands from Dane’s, standing up.
“I’m not done yet,” he protested, reaching for my right hand again.
I waved away his concern, acutely aware of everyone watching me. “I’m good for now. Quit fussing. Let’s find this town’s library and get some answers.”
On the other side of Kune, settled between a public park and the town hall, the library was a sorry-looking building gated off to bystanders and dotted with signs marking it ‘under construction’. The building’s metal siding was missing in places and wires ran across the ground, plugging construction robotech to the library as a power source, with the operation panels standing in black boxes in the thick of the equipment. We huddled in a tight pack behind a garbage compacter, scouting the area to make sure it was clear of people.
“Ooh,” Kenji said. His attention was snagged by a power block, locked inside a plastic enclosure. “I’ve always wanted one of those.” Venny took hold of the cuff of his jacket and dragged him back, pointing at the drone that hovered over the rooftop. Kenji deflated in disappointment.
“How are we supposed to get in?” Dayja turned a worried gaze from the monitoring drone to the library and back. “With that thing flying there, the moment we are out in the open, it will sound off alarms. Then the whole town will be awake and Allones will have a squad driving for us within minutes.”
“She doesn’t need that,” Cay told her. “See those autoguns on the rafters? We’ll be peppered the second that drone locks on us.”
Norie tilted her head to the side. “Can we fling a rock at it and take it down?”
“It’s too high up there. Doubt any of us could throw that distance,” Venny said mildly.
“Should we go find a gun somewhere and shoot it down?”
Cay gave her an exasperated snort. “Where exactly do you suggest we find a solargun right now? Break into someone’s house and hope they have one lying in the open?”
“Let’s hear your ideas then, sabelotodo!”
“Wait a second,” I said, shooting out my undamaged hand to tap Aro on the shoulder as a thought hit me. “Wait a second. Look at it.”
“What else did you think we were doing here?” Cay demanded hotly. “Cleaning our fingernails?”
“What I’d give for a nail file right now,” Anessa grumbled to herself, looking to her chipped nails mournfully.
“Look at its scanner light,” I said more directly, pointing to the beeping red ring at the base of the drone as it swept its sensor around in a slow circle. It reminded me of the laser pointer Aro used as a toy for his robocat at home. “Would Poppy Muffin find that interesting enough to hunt?”
Bless Dayja, she followed my line of thinking immediately. “Poppy Muffin could get past the drone’s sensors because she’s—sorry, Aro—she’s a machine. She doesn’t have a biomarker. And if she could take that drone down…”
“I believe she would be willing.” Aro unbuttoned his vest a little, allowing his robocat’s head to pop up where she was nestled inside. Her ears and whiskers wobbled as she purred. “Would you like to hunt that blinky light, sweetie? Looks like fun, doesn’t it?”
Dane held his head in his hands, and though his words were muffled, his despondency was perfectly clear as he said, “I can’t believe we are relying on a stupid cat robot to not get shot on sight.”
Kenji nodded in agreement. “This just might be the moment when we are killed.”
“Will you shut up with the doomsday talk?” Anessa hissed.
Aro put an end to further squabbling as he carefully crept to the corner of the compactor. Leaning forward, he slipped Poppy Muffin from his vest, and he held on as her paws met the pavement. We all waited, watching as her ears pricked forward and she lifted her head. Her tail swiped side to side as her spine bunched like a tightening spring. The fur on her back twitched.
Aro released the robocat, holding perfectly still as he watched her progress.
“How do we know your cat isn’t going to just target the nearest mouse?” Cay wanted to know.
“I may have modified a few of her programmed instincts,” Aro replied calmly. “She made for a useful companion when I needed something that could wriggle through smaller spaces.”
“Is this you confessing you were actually a criminal instead of a bounty hunter?”
Aro looked offended. “I said no such thing. Quiet now, she’s scaling the scaffolding.”
Eager to know what was happening, I jabbed Venny from where he hogged the other side of the compactor, making him give me some space to peer out as well. Squinting a little, I was able to make out the small form that, sure enough, was bounding her way up the crisscrossing network of metal beams and wooden planks.
“Well, damn. ‘Modified her programming’?” Cay echoed. “What did you do, download a killer’s intuition?”
“Look,” Norie insisted in a harsh whisper. “She’s going to jump.”
Poppy Muffin bunched herself into a little ball at the topmost rafter. The drone continued its slow revolve, unsuspecting of the fact it was being targeted.
“Do we have a backup plan?” Kenji asked, chewing anxiously on his bead necklace.
“We won’t need one,” Aro said with more confidence than I could muster.
The robocat leaped and I had to bite my tongue to keep from making a sound. She pounced in an arc, crashing straight into the drone with a thunk and then a clatter as both objects fell to the rooftop. Sparks flared up the next moment as Poppy Muffin clawed and chewed at her prize.
“How long until security realizes their surveillance is down?” I asked.
Aro said, “Given how sleepy this town is, I would give us a little over an hour. We had better make use of what time we have.”
“Let’s go, then,” Dane said. He stepped out from behind the compacter, leading the surge forward.
I scrambled to follow. The construction yard before us was a jungle of equipment and materials and wires, forcing us to needle our way through like mice in a maze. I felt like the slowest mouse, lagging behind the others as they darted after Anessa, who aimed towards the south corner of the library’s exterior. There, a set of recessed stairs led to a small green door bolted closed with a fingerprint reader.
“Break it open,” Anessa said. “They’re going to know we were here anyway.”
Cay obliged, delivering two swift kicks to the door’s hinges. They pinged off the concrete, allowing the door to sag from its attachment to the bolt. Anessa shoved the door open, waking her solarlight as she plunged into the bowels of the library.
Scanning behind me for a moment, I released some of the tension holding my muscles stiff when I didn’t see anyone at the perimeter like I had partially expected. Dane took hold of my shoulder, swinging me around, and I went with him wordlessly past the door as Aro softly coaxed Poppy Muffin down from the scaffolding.
Turning on my solarlight was a relief, assuaging some of the uneasiness that gripped me mercilessly. A quick study to get my bearings showed me that we had entered a long, trim corridor, which Anessa was already running down, her brother right at her heels. I set after the group, hearing Aro behind me. Our shoes clicked against the gray tiles.
Suddenly rearing to the right, Anessa dove down another hallway that yawned widely into a circular room lined with sleek black filing cabinets. There were hundreds of tiny shelves locked into each cabinet, maybe even thousands. At the center of the room a dome stood carved of gray marble, imbedded with keys and switches. At the center, a small square hole waited.
“Set the archive there, in the reader,” Anessa ordered. Her hands flew over the controls as Dane withdrew the little cube and clicked it into place. Lights blinked as the reader powered up, whirring and beeping. Anessa smacked the side of the panel with a frustrated growl. “Damn this old tech.”
“Someone should stay back and keep an eye out in case anyone tries to attack us,” Kenji said, wiping his palms down his uniform’s shirt.
Aro grinned. “Don’t fret yourself. Poppy Muffin is at the entryway and will alert me if she notices anyone.”
“Oh good,” Kenji replied faintly, “now she’s a sentry kitty.”
“Got it,” Anessa announced, drawing all of our attention back to her. The reader shone before her, the archive slowly rotating as tiny beads of light skittered through it. The cube separated into several pieces, expanding out like a cloud. On the screen before Anessa, a flood of pages loaded into place. Stepping closer, I blinked at the cascade of information.
“Where do we even start with all of this?” Cay set a finger to the screen, flicking through the pages.
“Let’s begin with the most pressing need-to-know stuff,” Dane suggested. “Narrow it down by keyword search and go from there.”
“Oh, oh!” Kenji shoved his way to the front, eagerly tapping away on the screen. “Start with ‘Wretch’. No wait, ‘Unraveling’, start there. Or maybe we should—”
“Get your grubby paws off the reader.” Anessa yanked him away by his long hair, not caring a whit when he whined and rubbed at his scalp. “I’m starting with any mention of the Dichotomy. I want my Spinning back, and if the Dichotomy is something that brings balance to essence manipulation, that sounds like a good place to start.” With a few swipes, she loaded the relevant pages, then flicked a switch. A smooth, automated voice read the text aloud.
“What understanding exists of the give and take between Harvesting and Spinning has depended upon the strength of the duo’s bond. After all, information only lasts as long as there is someone to remember it. One Harvester, one Spinner, bound together like two sides of a coin. If there is anything that you need to understand about the Dichotomy, you must remember that Soul Harvesting is a rare phenomenon, one that has incredible risks—”
“Wait, what? Pause that.” Dane stretched out the page on the screen, enlarging the image. We all leaned around him, reading in ink what we had just heard. “Soul Harvesting?”
A chill snaked down my back and Dayja crooked her arm around mine. “Is that possible? To Harvest someone’s soul? What does that even mean?”
“Let it keep reading,” Anessa said, elbowing Dane aside to tap the screen again.
“—that can weaken the Dichotomy, thus strengthening the Unraveling,” said the automated voice. “The longer that essence is kept out of balance, the faster Unraveling occurs. If left unchecked, essence itself will disintegrate at its central source—the soul. Thus, it will not simply be the comforts of our daily lives that will be at stake. It will be our lives themselves. If there is nothing else that is believed of my words, believe me when I say this: either we must stop my bonded from destroying the Dichotomy, or we will rue the day we allowed him—”
The page ended, flipping automatically to the next result in the search.
“I am Harvester Memorykeeper,” the voice read. “I implore you not to discard my words. I stand before the council now to demand action against—"
Static flared through the feed.
"What's happening?" Cay asked.
"That file is corrupted." Anessa frowned as her fingers worked on the screen, loading the next result.
"The pinnacle of Harvesting and Spinning combined is to Harvest souls."
A scraping voice echoed around the room, and I lurched back, my heart hammering. This was not a simple reading of a document this time. This was a voice recording. Shivers took hold of me, and I fought against rising nausea. It felt like Wretch himself stood in the room.
"This is the entire reason there is a Dichotomy in the first place. Do not deceive yourselves into shortsightedness because of fear of the unknown. Give me the resources necessary to locate these Wells of Memory, and I will deliver to you a new age of knowledge and progress. It is imperative for the future of essence control. In fact, it is imperative for your continued control over Idosis. You are not immune to the Unraveling. Its effects will be widespread, devastating, unless you allow me to continue in my work."
"You are claiming to be some sort of champion against the Unraveling?" spoke Allones voice. "If the Unraveling is so powerful, what makes you so certain you can do this?"
"I am salvation," Wretch stated unwaveringly.
Static fizzed through the feed again, the screen pixilating for a moment.
"This entire archive is corrupted," Anessa said, eyes widening in understanding. "It's been rigged to deploy on access to its contents. It's... It's eating through the files." Even as she spoke, I could see the pages on the screen blanking and disappearing in succession, one by one, like falling dominoes.
"Search for Wretch," Cay insisted quickly. "We need to know more about him."
Norie shook her head. "No, look for Unraveling. We don't know what it is yet."
"Wretch is the bigger threat. We can't defeat an enemy we don't know anything about."
