A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (25 page)

Today's events, however, would not go away
without a fight.

He pulled the chair out from the table and
sat backwards in it, facing the windows. As with any other day in
the Sprawl, he felt the changes of the night as he sat there for an
hour or so, dutifully watching the last hours of the day tick by.
Outside, friendly neighbors became tense and guarded, distancing
themselves from everyone except those closest to them. As an ARU
officer he was well known and well liked in this area, but now he
felt those same people pushing him away as a stranger. Friendly,
but a stranger nonetheless. People tended to build up a protective
wall around themselves when they lived in a sprawl. He’d grown used
to the nocturnal change, expected it.

He found himself staring at Mirades Tower,
some distance away. Offices appeared as beads of light up and down
its surface, the lifeblood of commerce and politics working
endlessly within. Somewhere in that monolith was a key to
unraveling this frustrating case. Someone in there knew something
about the attacks today. If only he could figure out who, he could
stop this insanity before it got any worse.

He thought of his visit to the Crest again.
He’d witnessed a spiritual healing process taking place throughout
the entire city, and both Kai and Ashan had confirmed it. But what
was it healing from, and what had hurt it in the first place? The
Council of Elders had claimed it was a spiritual imbalance that no
one but Nehalé and perhaps a few others had been aware of until
recently. If that was actually true, then the imbalance had
culminated with the awakening ritual and the hrrah-sehdhyn to set
things right again. Five attack points, equidistant from the
Mirades Tower…which had been the starting point of the ritual. And
the ritual had been in response to…what? Why had Nehalé performed
it?

“Balance,” he said aloud. Yes…yes, that had
to be it!

He pushed himself off the chair, nearly
knocking it over in the process, and grabbed his overcoat from the
rack near the doorway. He fished out his comm and with some
considerable digging, found the number for the Mendaihu agents.
Perching himself this time on one of the windowsills, he dialed the
number, at once excited and nervous. Kai answered after the third
ring with a stifled yawn.

“Kai? It's Agent Poe. Did I wake you
up?”

“Oh...hi,” she said. “Sorry, you caught me
napping. What can I do for you?”

“Sorry to wake you, but
something about this case just occurred to me, and I need your
input.” He found himself feeling giddy. It felt like high school
all over again, oddly enough. “Well...I'm thinking, what if the
awakening ritual
wasn't
part of a...what did you call it earlier?
A
shimshiya
.
That's a bit of a misnomer, isn't it? Doesn't that actually mean
'endgame' rather than 'a call to arms' in Anjshé?”

She hummed in thought. “Eons ago it did,
Alec. Before the spacefaring eras. Back then it was more of
a...um...well, probably a stalemate, more than anything else. The
Ariantos Dynasty is what gave the change in meaning....” She let
out a small laugh. “I'm sorry. I'm tired and I'm rambling.”

“No, actually that's
exactly what I wanted to know,” he said. “You were right. Nehalé
wasn't issuing a call to arms, Kai. He doesn't want a revolution or
a spiritual war. He doesn’t want to gather all the Mendaihu
together to fight the Shenaihu at all. He wants a checkmate. He
doesn't want
anything
to happen.”

“Funny way to express it,” she said.

“In a way, it makes sense. He wasn’t so much
trying to awaken people for an army…like everyone says, a Mendaihu
wouldn’t actively do something like that, right?”

“Well…yes, as a Mendaihu who follows a
certain code of ethics, I’d either have to be utterly despondent,
or in real need of a defense against an enemy.”

“In other words, what
Nehalé did was
way
out of line, considering any perceived threat was in reality
quite negligible.”

“In that context, yes.”

Poe nodded. “Okay then. If it wasn’t a
defensive move, could it possibly be an offensive move?”

Kai huffed. “Alec, that would be completely
illogical. Would you hurt Caren in any way just out of a mere
suspicion that she may harbor plans to hurt you?”

“Of course not.”

“Same goes for the
Mendaihu. Same
exact
reasoning. It’s just not something we would do to those we
care for unconditionally.”

“So that leaves one thing…” he said.

“The shimshiya…” she finished.

“Exactly.”

“So, you’re suggesting that Nehalé
deliberately made the first move so that the Shenaihu had no other
choice but to respond? He wanted the hrrah-sehdyhn to happen?”

“Well, I think in a way he did. Maybe he
didn’t expect it to be so violent, but I’d be surprised if it
hadn’t crossed his mind.” He turned away from the window and stood
again, trying to get the words correct as he worked out his
thoughts, and began pacing the room. “So let’s say my theory is
correct. Let’s say Nehalé performed a large-scale awakening ritual
for two reasons. First, considering the scale, he was trying to
affect as many people as possible. Second, he wanted the Shenaihu
to force their hand. And in doing so, both sides are now on level
ground.

“Next — remember what Nick brought up? He
was worried about a major Awakening, perhaps an Ascension of the
One of All Sacred. It got me thinking…what if another Embodiment is
now an inevitability? If that’s the case, Nehalé would want to be
sure the Light was in balance, if not stacked in his favor,
right?”

“That’s…an interesting theory,” Kai said
unevenly. “Even if it were true, there are so many loose ends it
could unravel pretty quickly.”

“Point taken,” Poe said. “But that’s just
it. He’s not a rogue Mendaihu. A good number of the newly awakened
have been all over the place — Mendaihu, Shenaihu, cho-nyhndah and
nuhm’ndah. And of all the witnesses and affected people in the
Downtown area that we asked that night, not one of them had a bad
thing to say about what happened. It wasn’t blind, religious
fervor, either. They let it happen, and they’re fine with it. He’s
deliberately trying to keep a balance, so if or when the time comes
for an Ascension, it won’t be destructive.”

Now that he had voiced his
theory to someone else, even if it seemed odd not to pitch it to
Caren first, he was surprised he hadn’t come to this conclusion
earlier. Nehalé Usarai was not an aggressive man at all. All
reports tagged him as one of the best and strongest Mendaihu in
Bridgetown Province, and Poe was not a man to be made cynical
easily. His previous Mendaihu experiences led him to believe that a
man like Nehalé simply would
not
pull something like a massive awakening ritual
without a damn good reason. The man was an extremely cautious
prophet.

“So,” he said. “Why don’t we all meet up
tomorrow at Yoshi’s Diner to discuss it? I’m sure with the four of
us together, we might be able to work out what Nehalé might do
next.”

Kai hummed in agreement. “Yes, let’s do
that. I’m sure Ashan will have a few things to say about your
theory.”

“I’m sure he will,” he grinned, pleased that
the conversation had gone so well. He let a rare wave of optimism
rush through him. “I’ll let Caren know and we’ll meet up around
eight. Thank you, Kai…I appreciate your input.”

“You’re welcome, Alec! I enjoy chatting with
you. Oh, before I forget…I do have one question I’ve been meaning
to ask. I hope I’m not overstepping, but…do you mind?”

“Not at all,” he said. “What’s up?”

“I…well,” she paused, clearly embarrassed.
“I’m sorry if this sounds forward, but it’s been on my mind. You
see, since we’ve met, I’ve been curious about your spirit
signature. It’s…unique, shall we say. I’ve never scanned anything
like it before.”

“Well, uh…” Poe smiled and raised an
eyebrow. “How does it read to you?”

“Cold. Not Shenaihu cold,
just...I don't know. An
ominous
cold.”

“Ominous, eh?” Poe masked his amusement.
He’d had it called weird, freakish, and dangerous, but never
ominous! “Let’s say it’s a very long story.”

“I'm so sorry! It was a dumb question. I
just...”

“No, quite all right, Kai,” he said, letting
her off the hook. “I get that from a lot of Mendaihu. I'm not sure,
but I think it's hereditary. My birth parents apparently had the
same off-kilter spiritual energy, or so I'm told. I never knew them
in that manner. I was adopted.”

“Oh...” Kai whispered. “I'm sorry...”

“No worries,” he said. “Anyway, it’s in the
past, and I’ve made my peace with it.”

He could tell she wanted to offer a
soulhealing, though she did not say it. He'd thought about it many
times, but never followed through, for one reason or another.

“I won't push you, Alec,” she said softly.
“I understand. And thank you for answering my question.”

Poe smiled. “Sure thing. Tomorrow,
then?”

“Tomorrow it is,” she said. “Good night,
Alec. Pleasant dreams.”

“You too.”

He ended the call, turned off the comm, and
dropped it back into his coat pocket. He stopped at the windows
again, looking out at the Tower. He’d hoped that talking with Kai
would have calmed him down some, but it had actually done the
opposite. She’d accepted his theory, but she’d also held back from
saying too much in response. The two Mendaihu siblings were
definitely keeping things from them. Perhaps it was for their own
good, perhaps it was for their safety, but it irritated the hell
out of him. He hated being coddled like that. He pulled out another
cigarette, lit it, and leaned up against one of the window frames.
He exhaled heavily, knowing there was nothing more he could do
about any of this until morning.

He’d get answers then, one way or
another.

*

Denysia.

Denni Johnson stirred out
of slumber and yawned, taking in the cool autumn night breeze from
the open window. She’d heard the voice again, calling her by
that
name. Caren had
called her again. Did she just come home? No, she’d been home for
the last four hours. Was she talking to someone? Not at this time
of night…she never spoke within this late, not if she could help
it.

Was someone in the room? No, she’d have
sensed their presence before she was fully awake. She looked over
at the clock on her desk…it was a few minutes before midnight. She
looked around the room again, the lights of the city outside
creating odd shapes against the walls and the ceiling. An
involuntary shudder ran down her back, making her squirm and hold
herself tighter.

Denysia.

The voice didn’t sound at all like Caren,
come to think of it.

She stood up and stretched, wide awake and
annoyed now. This wasn’t the first time she’d heard a voice calling
her name. She wasn’t about to answer it within, not until she told
Caren about it. She must still be awake at this time…she could
sense her still moving around her own room. She stepped quietly out
into the hallway to be sure. The lights in the front rooms were
off, but there was a thin sliver of light showing under Caren’s
bedroom door. The room was too quiet. She frowned again…something
was up.

She crossed the hall and poked her head in.
She found Caren at her desk, tapping absently at a vidmat,
completely lost in thought. She stared at the display of a fractal
flower as it spun slowly at her tapping, the colors morphing from
one to the next, never staying on one hue. Denni frowned…this was
not a good sign, not at all. Caren hadn’t used the flower
meditation program in years. She’d used them when Mum and Dad
died…did something happen? To Poe? To Madeleine? Without a word,
she stepped towards her sister until she was right behind her, and
reached out a hand.

“Hey, Den,” Caren said before Denni had even
touched her shoulder, startling her. She recoiled slightly,
surprised, and then moved closer again. Caren’s aura felt cold and
frail. Without looking, she reached up a hand to cover hers. “Good
to see you, kid.”

Caren's voice wavered, as if she had been
crying. Denni wrapped both arms around her neck and gave her a
quick squeeze. “Hey, sis,” she said. “You okay?”

Caren breathed deep and fell into Denni’s
embrace, giving her a tired smile. With the other hand she touched
the vidmat’s sensor pad and turned it off. “Yeah…I am now. Just had
one of the shittiest days of my entire life today. I can handle
it.”

“Come on, I'll make you some tea.” She
grabbed a hand and led her to the living room and sat her down on
the couch. She entered the adjoining kitchen, tapped the light
above the sink on to the lowest level and grabbed two coffee mugs,
all while keeping an eye on her sister. She was looking back at her
with trepidation, maybe a little hint of defeat.

“You know you've got school tomorrow,” Caren
said lamely.

“I'm fine. Noise woke me up anyway.”

“Oh…did I wake you?” She had leaned back on
the sofa at an odd angle, burrowed in between cushions and a
comforter. She held herself too closely, knees brought up to her
chest. Definitely not a good sign. She filled the teapot and put it
on the stove to boil, and joined her in the living room.

“No, I didn’t hear you at
all, actually.” She played up the mundane talk to keep Caren’s mind
going
somewhere
.
“I...uh...it was the street. It was humid and I had the window
open. Have you already shut down work for the night?”

“About a half hour ago,” she said.