A Division of Souls - A Novel of the Mendaihu Universe (26 page)

“Yeah...didn't even hear
you.” She bit her lip, trying to think of something to say…but
luckily after a few moments the kettle had started to whistle.
“Hold that thought.” She grabbed two bags of peppermint tea from a
cupboard and brought the mugs into the room, setting them on the
coffee table to steep. “Here. I know you like this stuff.”
Be strong, Caren
, she
thought.
I don't want to see you lose it
again.
She snuggled up next to her sister
and pulled her close. “Come on,” she said softly. “Don't blink out
on me now. Talk to me.”

Caren hesitated, but only for a moment. “I'm
sorry,” she said, dropping her head on Denni's shoulder, and let
out a long, labored sigh. She reached over and grabbed a mug of
tea, gingerly pulling out the bag and placing it in a nearby bowl.
“You heard about what happened today?”

She nodded and picked up her own mug. “Yeah.
Saw some of the coverage on vidmat over Amna's place. NewsComm
didn't say much, though...they’re leaving out too much detail.
They're keeping something back.”

“Oh, they are, kid. Believe me,” Caren
grumbled into her mug. Swallowing, she let out a satisfied sigh.
“Thank you.”

“You needed it,” she said.

Caren turned to her and smiled, but said
nothing. It was a sad smile, a brave face that hid a much deeper
pain. She returned to her mug, staring into it and swirling the
contents, taking another sip. She saw a tear welling up in her eye,
but she masked it quickly by letting out a yawn, wiping it away as
an afterthought. She set the mug down and pulled at the comforter.
She turned to Denni, and gave her the sad smile again, reaching out
and ruffling her hair. It took her a few tries to get words out,
the Johnson habit of stuttering and restarting, trying to form the
right words the first time out.

“I can’t reveal too much
right now,” she said finally, and let the words spill freely. “But
yes, Poe and I were involved. Indirectly, I mean. Investigating
them. Sheila and Nick were at the church, near it, when it
happened.
Poe and I were at the office. I was calling
contacts about the awaking ritual, of all things. Sheila and Nick
are doing fine. Shaken, but fine.” She stopped there for a moment,
watching Denni and contemplating, until she pursed her lips and
turned away. “Damn it all…” she said, wiping her eyes. “I can’t do
this to you. I can’t hold this back anymore. It’s not fair to
either of us.”

It took a tremendous amount of courage, but
she went on to describe everything that had happened today, leaving
nothing out. Denni listened in rapt silence, both shocked and a
little afraid. Caren had occasionally talked about her active
cases, but never to this extent. If she was telling her now, it had
to be important…more to the point, it had to be personal. An
Embodiment? She knew its history…it just sounded so impossible! Why
now? What were the Mendaihu and the Shenaihu up to…?

Caren laid a protective arm around her,
wiping the last of her tears with her free hand. “Denni…I needed to
tell you this because you have a right to know what I do. I won’t
leave you in the dark, not anymore.”

Denni nodded, eyes wide.
“Goddess...it was
that
serious?”

“There's no doubt, Den,” Caren said. “You
must understand now why I'm so worried about you. But I had to tell
you.”

The nuhm’ndah...
She moved closer, burrowing in under her sister’s
outstretched arm. She stared blankly into the center of the room,
biting her lip and trying hard not to quiver.
The nuhm’ndah. They've come back.
Thoughts, blurred and dark memories from five years ago, the
ones she'd fought so hard to hide, threatened to break the surface
of her protective conscience. She could only hope she had the
strength to handle the eventual lifting of that veil.

Denysia.

The voice startled her and she twitched
before she could stop herself.

“Denni?” Caren pulled her arm away. “You
okay?”

“I...” she shied away. “I
thought I just heard something.”
Oh
Goddess…it’s not Caren at all! Who’s been calling me all this
time?

Denysia!

She trembled. “It’s…I can
hear someone calling me…I thought it was you, but you’re not
talking to me at all. You know,
inside
. And they’re using that
name.”

Caren’s face grew dark. “He got to you,
didn’t he?” she growled. “It’s Nehalé…you were affected the other
night, weren’t you?”

“It…doesn’t sound like him,” she said in as
calm a tone as she could muster. “It sounds like a woman…somewhere
close by. She’s not attacking me, she’s just…calling my name. Like
she’s just checking in.”

“It could be anyone,” Caren mumbled. She was
trying her hardest to calm herself down. “Are you sure
they’re…?”

I can hear her just
fine,
Denni said within.
She means no harm.

Her sister took an uneven
breath, exhaled, and tried again. It nearly came out as a choking
sob. But within, her voice was as calm and confident as it might
have been on her strongest day.
Denysia,
she said.
Tell me what you sense. Let me know what she
wants.

Denni nodded. She closed her eyes, cast out
a small thread of contact, and listened.

The response was immediate
and full of relief.
Denysia! Thank the
Goddess I’ve found you!
the voice said.
There was a slight shiver, a ripple of pure emotion, and she felt
it throughout her entire body at once.
I
will not burden you now. I am only confirming that you are safe.
Your sister Karinna will protect you. I will call you again
soon.

Wait!
Denni called out.
Who are you? Where
are you?

Silence. The voice was gone — no, it was
still there, just quiet. The presence hummed in in the back of her
mind, just barely audible. They were sensing her, looking for the
center of her spirit, and —

She gasped. Something blazingly hot had
pricked her insides, just a needle-thin jab, painful for less than
a second before it vanished. She twitched and opened her eyes wide.
They’d put something within her — no, they’d poked at something
inside of her, nudging it awake.

Awaken, my dearest,
the voice said. And then it finally
disappeared.

“I…” she whispered.

Caren took her hands and
held them tight. She began breathing slowly and evenly, relaxing
every muscle in her body. Denni felt a sudden release of energy not
her own, lifting outward from her body and dissipating in the air
around them. She felt the waves of calming energy washing through
her, crossing through their clasped hands and surrounding her. The
ripples were warm, washing over her like love. And she understood —
it
was
love. The
energy that she felt between her sister and herself, what she had
felt from their parents, from Alec, from...

“I...”

...she understood that love was not just an
emotion, but also a living, ever-changing energy that enshrouded
her, ever protective and unending. She felt it flow between them
like a secret forgotten language, understood even without proper
words, or even any words at all. This wondrous and frightening new
world was completely hers and hers alone, and she was suddenly not
afraid.

She understood.

She was Mendaihu.

I...Caren...what is...what is this I
feel?

Caren's hands twitched in
hers.
This is us, Denysia. The
true
us.

“I...don't understand.” She was startled by
her own voice in the silent apartment, and confused by it as well.
It sounded dry, distant, and without any feeling, compared to the
full emotion and beautiful timbre of her inner voice.

This is our heritage,
Denysia,
Caren spoke within her, her voice
rippling through every nerve of her body, soothing and close. Her
voice bypassed her ears and brain and went straight for the heart
of her spirit. She knew at once that this was truly a sacred
ability, where only the truth resided.
This is what our parents were. They were Mendaihu. As are
we.

“Mend—” She began to say the word aloud, but
stopped herself.

“Denni,” she said, her voice warm and soft.
“I tried to keep you from this...this secret, and I'm sorry.” She
squeezed Denni's hands again, this time hard. “I tried to keep it
from myself, and I realize now how utterly stupid and dangerous
that was.”

Denni frowned. “What do you mean?”

Caren huffed out a tiny
laugh and let go of her hands. She leaned back on the cushions of
the couch, sinking into their softness, and closed her eyes with a
smile. She seemed finally at peace with herself, surprising both of
them. The anxiety and fear had completely left her, leaving
the
real
Caren
Johnson: a compassionate, courageous, loving woman.

We are Mendaihu,
Denni said.

Caren beamed, laughing inwardly. She opened
her eyes and looked at her.

“We are all luminous beings,” she replied.
“Just that some of us have to learn how to accept that fact.”

*

Denysia....

My little sis.

Hmmm....You know, I've been trying to figure
out a way to talk to you about this, to try and find a good time,
but I never seemed to get there. I won't even bother with excuses,
Den, you deserve that much. So right now I'm going with my gut
instincts, saying the truest words I can. I'm speaking within you,
Denysia. There are no lies here. There never have been, and there
never will be.

I know you are sleeping
right now, and I am whispering this so I won't wake you. I can only
hope that your soul, or your subconscious hears this and retains
it. I'm in my bed right now, right down the hall from you, staring
at the shadows on the ceiling, and I pray that you won't be scared
by everything that went on today. I meant to ask you what that soul
had said to you, but you looked uncomfortable in bringing it up, so
I won't push you. When you're ready, please,
please
talk to me, okay?

Well. Umm.

Den, you see, what happened today...at the
church, and with the conversations I’d had with the Mendaihu we’re
working with…I just couldn’t help but think of Mum and Dad. I know
it happened five years ago...I really don't know how much of it you
remember, or even want to remember. Goddess knows I try not to
remember it at all, though I know eventually I'll come to terms
with it. I want to, but it’s just so hard…

So let me say this:

Mum and Dad died trying to save us, Denni. I
know I told you a version of this, but I never told you the whole
story. It’s true they were over at that apartment at Branden Hill
Park, trying to lure out a violent antialienist, who had kidnapped
two kids, a boy and a girl. How do I know this? Classified files,
kid. Both the ARU and the BMPD shut this case down damn quick,
while I recuperated from the shock. Later on I had access —
unofficial access, mind you, thanks to a few people who shall
remain nameless for now. Suffice it to say I’m indebted to them for
giving me the truth when I needed it most. Hell, I was barely able
to process it, but you know? I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
I’m glad they told me when they did, instead of keeping me in the
dark, throwing lies or half-truths at me like everyone else.

Sorry, I'm getting distracted. Now...

Those two kids? Boy was eight, the girl was
ten. I don't remember the names, but that's not really important
right now. What is important, is that this antialienist? He was a
Reality Seer. Sort of like a soulsenser, only they can see the
multiple outcomes of any given action. Think of Alec, he's a
profiler. A profiler’s aim is to find the one most possible
outcome, while a reality seer looks for the largest number of
possible outcomes.

So...um...

So these kids...apparently
he was convinced — and said as much to Mum and Dad when they
accosted him, according to transcripts — that the kids were both
future Warriors of the One of All Sacred. Uh...well, to keep it
short, Warriors are Mendaihu soldiers whose only role is to protect
the One at all costs in both his or her physical and spiritual
forms. At those kids' ages, one can never really tell
what
they'll become. A
skilled Mendaihu, maybe, but a Warrior? It’s possible, but the odds
are astronomical. Kids are still too malleable at that age. They
can go either way, become anything at all.

So...Mum and Dad confront this guy, try to
get the kids out, you know? It's a standard practice, being a
Mendaihu -- get the innocent out, sacrificing yourself if you have
to. Only this guy...

...

...sorry.

...this guy. He, uh. He...he kills them.
I'll spare you the long version, Den. The poor kids...he...he,
um...

...

...damn. I'm sorry. It still bothers the
hell out of me, kid. Just bear with me.

He...he, um...so he takes their
lives…and…Mum witnesses it all. She can’t do a damn thing because
she wasn’t in range to stop him, but she was able to see and sense
the whole thing, record it. Guy’s completely lost it at this point,
he doesn’t give a shit what he does anymore. And he knows Mum is
there, and calls her out. He challenges Mum, he challenges her to a
fight, see? A fight to the...to the death.

Do you understand now, Den?