A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (23 page)

Nick frowned for a second before answering.
“Well, it's cloudy but not dark...kind of windy, coming from the
south, a little stronger than usual, even for us up on the seventh
floor. Best guess — and no, I didn't catch the forecast today — I'd
say that it might rain later on tonight. Why do you ask?”

Poe flicked ash over the railing. “That's
about normal for human sensing. We pretty much just file it under
evolutionary instinct and sensitivity, with a bit of short-term
past experience. Now, Meraladians? About ten times as strong. They
would have answered my question by stating that the rain will
probably go inland and miss the city entirely, and if the city gets
it, it’ll probably be a light drizzle lasting about a half hour, if
anything. Their sensing includes basic emotional reactions in
others through energy waves. A man can have a stone face and an
aloof attitude, but a Meraladian can tell how he's feeling without
hearing a word. Despite our relations, their own evolution is quite
a few millennia older than ours.”

“Okay,” he said. “And the Mendaihu?”

Poe thought back to his
meeting up at the Crest and felt the remnants of his experience
beyond the lifted Veil. It swirled in the back of his mind, just
out of the sharp focus of his consciousness, leaving only the
blurred shape of the Sprawl. The
emotional
image, the intensity of
what he'd seen, however, had imprinted itself clearly across his
spirit, something he would never forget.

“The Mendaihu...” he
trailed off, looking east. The Mirades Tower rose majestically in
the distance. He shivered, a sudden unease washing over him. “I
really couldn't tell you, Nick, but my best approximation would be
at least fifty times as strong as ours. At
least
. Probably more. And that's for
all Mendaihu, both human and Meraladian.”

Nick whistled. “Damn.”

Poe knew the inevitable
question lay unspoken in Nick's mind:
what
about the Shenaihu?
It was assumed their
sensing abilities must be in the same range as the Mendaihu. How
else could everything that happened today make sense otherwise? His
mind replayed the image of the floor of the church, covered in
blood and glass, and dozens of Mendaihu lying either dead or
severely injured in between the overturned pews. Special Forces had
gone in after it was all over and captured it all on digital. Poe
had watched as much footage as he could take, but he could not yet
will himself to see that carnage from the Shenaihu point of view.
It was just too visceral.

“Nick —” Poe began.

“Agent Poe,” the young officer interrupted.
He pushed himself off the railing and stood straight at attention
towards him. “Listen, I know I'm the brat here. You, Agents Johnson
and Kennedy are all older than me, with a lot more experience not
only on the ARU, but also around the Sprawl in general. I'm proud
to be working with the three of you.”

Poe winced. “Nick, I —”

“Let me finish, please. I
need to say this. I'm sure it's been on your mind as well. Now, in
spite of me being new here, regardless of the fact that I've worked
with you all for close to two years now, I'm aware that I may not
know nearly as much about the Mendaihu…and I know I don’t have any
of the special abilities the three of you have. But that doesn't
stop me. I covered most of South City for four years before I came
here. Being everything from a glorified bodyguard for some CEO to a
security mediator between five different Foundation worlds for a
major business deal, there's one thing I understand more than
anything else. And that's
fear
.”

He flicked ash from his
cigarette and looked away. “I know how it feels, Poe. Do you know
what it's like to understand that the peace agreements outlined in
the CNF Mahaye-Sirius Treaty treads a
very
thin line? Any stupid moves and
transuniversal commerce goes to shit? Or that the death, however
accidental, of a major player in South City can mean irreparable
damages both in his or her company and the economy in general?
Trust me, Poe. I know fear well.

“I figured either Caren or yourself would
pussyfoot around these attacks when I’m around, but I'll tell you
right now that I do not plan to step down. So don’t hold back,
because it wouldn’t be fair to any of us.”

Poe stared at him in blank surprise.
“I...uh...okay,” he stammered, unsure how to react to that.
“Really,” he started again. “I'm glad you’re on board.”

Nick nodded, stubbing the cigarette out in
an ashtray on a nearby table. He glanced at his watch and then
smiled at Poe, an oddly serene expression on his face. “About that
time,” he said.

Poe got the door and let them back in. On
the way down to the Counseling office, he had to question himself:
who had the better grasp on the situation here?

*

Kai quietly folded her hands on the table
and observed the others surrounding her, throwing out a single
strand of sensing at them to judge their levels of agitation. Chief
Inspector Farraway stood at the opposite end of the table, head
down and arms crossed tightly, deep in thought. He was obviously
bothered by the church incident considering the chaotic emotions
swirling through his head and heart...but that was as far as she
could go. His thoughts were private and elusive, and she could
focus no further. His agitated energy danced wildly about his body,
directionless but kept very close to the skin. She knew enough to
keep a respectable distance when sensing him; any closer and her
spirit presence would be felt. Humans did not like such an
intrusion.

She also felt intense emotions from the
fiery Sheila, whose brightly shimmering aura seemed more a normal
occurrence than an excited state. She had been directly involved in
the incident at the church on Ormand Street along with Nick, and so
had draped a cloak of protection over herself and those immediately
surrounding her. The gesture was purely instinctual, something she
hadn’t even thought about doing; she just threw it out there
subconsciously. They had been blessed with a true Protector on this
team.

Sheila stood directly
behind the woman who must be Caren; she sat quietly and
unassumingly halfway down the table, not saying a word or showing a
shred of emotion. Her spirit was so wound tight, so restrained that
she found it worrisome; it was neither normal nor healthy. By being
her Protector, Sheila had become a channel for Caren's energy,
instinctively siphoning out the fear and pain, and replacing it
with a pure and unconditional love. They were an interesting pair,
not quite
sehnadha
and not quite
shadhisi
, but something in between.
Kai could sense their intensely strong bond, twin souls entwined.
Caren’s spirit was scarred and raw, barely a scrape emanating past
those within the room. It made Kai want to read her spirit
signature even more, test it, read it somehow, yet the woman kept
it so guarded even Ashan would have been unable to crack the
surface. She lingered on the two a little longer before moving on,
hoping she would have that chance soon.

She felt Nick's odd signature before he even
entered the room. It was unmistakably human, yet behaved as if
Meraladian. He was completely aware of his surroundings, and
immediately understood the actions and emotions of those around
him...yet, as she had read from his file, he lacked any latent
psionic ability. Unless his sensing abilities were dormant, his job
as a profiler relied solely on logic and intellect. He took the
chair two seats away from Caren and got himself settled, ready for
whatever was about to unfold.

Alec Poe followed close behind and sat down
next to Caren, unassuming and...

Cold…!

Kai frowned at him without meaning to. She
immediately lifted a hand to her mouth to keep herself from saying
anything, or thinking anything for that matter, and blushed,
wondering what had caused this sudden and unexpected reaction. It
was not the same bitterness of nearby Shenaihu, but the unnerving
coldness of someone moving in too close and too quick before she
could lift up her own instinctual shield. That was the spirit
signature of someone who knew the geography of her soul inside and
out, coming and going whenever they pleased. She had not felt this
up at the Crest earlier this morning, nor had Ashan, or he would
have surely mentioned it. She had never felt anything like this in
her life, and she did not know how to react. Was he intruding? Or
was he…?

Kai,
Ashan whispered within.
Is something
wrong?
She turned to her brother. He
responded by pursing his lips and absently straightened the stack
of files in front of him, avoiding eye contact.

Uh...no,
she responded.
Just an
odd sense reading is all.

Alec Poe?

She gave him a quick nod. Ashan did not
answer. Everyone was in the room, and they were waiting for the
meeting to start. She quickly composed herself and let it go for
now.

“Thank you for coming,” she said, hoping her
voice hadn't just wavered. The sensitives in this room did not
appear to notice any shift in her own energy signature, much to her
relief. She glanced again at Ashan, who motioned for her to
continue.

“Ashan and I are aware of the attacks today.
Our prayers go out to the victims...I only wish we could do more,
but CNF guidelines restrict us. Since the attacks, we have not been
permitted inside the church or its surroundings; nor have we gotten
much information about the four other attack points. I fear this
may be to our disadvantage in the future, but it is something we
can work around. Chief Inspector, do you concur?”

“Yes, emha,” he said, and cleared his throat
as he picked up a vidmat from the table and started reading. “This
is the preliminary data I received from Chiappara and the Special
Forces team. The four remaining attack points are as follows: the
corner of North Main Street and Pendergast Boulevard in Glover
Court, just across from the Public Data Library: straight north of
the Tower. The outdoor market at Sculler's Crossing in the
Waterfront District: east of St. Patrick’s, and the hardest hit.
Lexington Square in South City, one of the busiest intersections in
Bridgetown. Last is right down the street: the corner of Ormand and
West Krieger in Fraserville. Number of injuries and losses is
inconclusive at this time, although we do have an ongoing shortlist
of them here.”

“Vidmat on,” Ashan said. A section of the
wall behind him blinked to life. “Live satellite image, Bridgetown
Central. Highlight points of today's attacks.” The vidmat responded
with a blurred pan and zoom until Mirades Tower reached out towards
them, dead center in the image. “Map all geometric alignments of
all highlighted points and include the initial reach of edha
Usarai’s awakening ritual.” The vidmat screen came alive with thin
strands crawling across the satellite picture, dissecting and
circling the city. The room grew cold and quiet as the agents
stared wide-eyed at the map. The points of attack had been laid out
in a perfect pentagon, with the Tower dead center.

The first blast of Nehalé Usarai’s ritual
was in perfect alignment.

“It’s a
hrrah-sehdhyn
,” Alec
said, voice barely audible. “The five-point defensive
response.”

Farraway nodded. “Considering the view, the
area around the Tower received less damage than we thought during
the psychic blast from the Awakening ritual. The casualty numbers
from the ritual’s shockwave are amazingly low. We're looking at a
death toll of under ten.”

Caren gaped at him. “Only ten?”

An unexpected burst of energy emanated from
her, her first show of emotion and aura since they entered the
room, and Kai flinched without meaning to. It was harmless, but it
was frighteningly strong. Mendaihu Elder strong. She forced herself
not to look at Ashan, fearing the others would notice.

“The fact that the shockwave was from an
elemental casting and not incendiary explosives is a starter,
Caren,” Farraway continued. “The most direct damage edha Usarai’s
ritual did was rattle the foundations of the surrounding buildings.
Physically, there was little to no fallout. The ten deaths caused
by his ritual were not directly involved, and were of natural
causes: seven heart attacks and three brain aneurysms. To put it
bluntly…they were in poor physical health and couldn’t handle the
strain.”

Caren shook her head. “But…the reaction?
Psychologically?”

“We’re still working on that,” he said with
a touch of irritation. “No one wants to talk about it, that’s the
problem. Most felt no change at all, other than frayed nerves. The
reaction gets weaker as we spread out from the Tower. We haven’t
moved farther out than the initial two-mile cloud radius yet.”

Kai felt Caren’s energy
level jump and ascend, just as Sheila stepped away from her and
leaned against the wall. A fierce wave of love — not towards
Sheila, or even
through
her for that matter — burst forth in its
threadlike protective and focused form and shot northwards, towards
someone obviously not in the immediate area. Kai felt the wave as a
short jolt of electricity through her own body, and she couldn’t
help but stare at Caren now. This energy radiated out of her, more
luminous than Sheila’s aura, pure and dedicated. This protective
love must have been directed at someone extremely close to her in
heart and in mind.

Another
Protector
, she thought.
Stronger than Sheila…